Langland's Vision of Piers the Plowman: An English Poem of the Fourteenth Century, Done Into ...

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HARVARD COLLEGE
LIBRARY

PROM THB FUND OF

CHARLES MINOT

CLiVSS OF 1828

1

V

LANGLAND'S VIS/ON
OF PIERS THE PLOWMAN

By J- /• JUSSERAND.

Piers Plowman,

1362-1398 :

a Contribution to tje l^igtorp of (Kngliglj

9i^pjStici0m.

WITH A PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECE AND TWENTY-THREE

OTHER ENGRAVINGS.

Demy Svo, clotky gilt top, I2j.

The Times :— '* M. Jusserand has once more made English literature
his debtor by his admirable monograph on Piers Plowman. ... It is a
masterly contribution to the history of our literature, inspired by rare
delicacy of critical appreciation."

The Saturday Ravlavr :— " The work is marked by the felicitous
insight and vivid suggestiveness that charm us in previous writings by the
same author."

The Spectator:— "We heartily^commend M. Jusserand's book to all
lovers of English literature."

The Standard :— " There is nothing of the pedant about M. Jusserand,
and yet his learning and research are apparent on every page. . . . This
masterly interpretation of an epodi-making book."

St. James's Gazette:— "The best commentary that has ever been
written on Langland and his works. . . . The worlc is another of M.
Jusserand's successes, and it (Reserves a very hearty welcome from English
readers."

Pall Mall Gazette:— "This work is one that will possess great in-
terest for the average general reader, as well as the general student of
literature."

National Observer :— " This is a brilliant contribution to literar>'
criticism and English history."

Lo^'DON: T. FISHER UNWIN.

-•-#

.HangldttD'^ WiiSim

OF

^ier0 tfje ^lotomati/y

N ENGLISH POEM OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
DONE INTO MODERN PROSE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY

KATE M. WARREN

LONDON

T. FISHER UNWIN

MOCCCXCV

Cjl

MAY 16 1916

.^^^

' -t

DEDICATED TO

'€^t IReti* fetopfocn SL. Brooke

TEACHER AND FRIEND

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface . . vii

• ••

Introduction ..... xm

Chronological Table . . xl

Piers the Plowman

Prologue . ... ... I

Passus I. . . . . .12

Passas II. .... . 21

Passus III. ...... 32

Passus IV. ..... 48

Passus V. . . . . • 57

Passus VI. .... . 88

Passus VII. ...... 103*^

Appendix A. Additional passages . 115

Appendix B. Specimens of original text . .136

^•v >

PREFACE

It is necessary to open the preface to this book
with an apology. When I began the translation of
Piers the Plowman^ some time ago, Mr. Stopford
Brooke kindly promised to write a short Introduc-
tion for it, and until recently the book has been
advertised as having this preface from his pen.
Unfortunately, a sudden and severe illness has pre-
vented Mr. Brooke from fulfilling the promise made
when in health, and the accompanying Introduction
has" been therefore supplied by myself.

This book has been prepared for an audience
of general readers. It naturally does not aim at
appealing to the circle who read the poem in the
original ; nor has there been any attempt to adapt
it to the requirements of those students who look
upon English literature as a subject for exami-
nation to be " got up " from " set books." My
rendering is not a line-for-line translation. But it
has been prepared for an increasing number of
readers who, without being scholars in Early Eng-
lish, are yet sufficiently interested in our early
literature to wish to read Piers the Plowman for

vu

viii PREFACE,

themselves, either as pure literature, or in order
to find the social history in it. In connection with
the teaching of English literature in schools, and
with lectures of different kinds under the University
Extension system, I hope the book may also be of
use.

As to the translation, I have chosen a prose form
for it, and my aim has been to shape it in the
way that seemed most fitted to express the ori-
ginal of the fourteenth century, yet not so as to
repel a modern reader by its archaism. On the
whole the English of the Bible has been my model,
with the addition, wherever possible, of alliteration.
It is the prose into which Langland's poem most
naturally falls. And there is a reason for this. Our
present Bible is, to a certain extent, based on the
Bible of Wyclif, and Wyclif was contemporary with
Langland. The two writers were both familiar with
the same national stock of words, phrases, and turns
of expression ; moreover, the work of each was done
for the people, and expressly intended for a strong
appeal to them. Hence our Biblical English is
perhaps the nearest we can approach, without be-
coming either obscure or over-quaint, to the Eng-
lish of the fourteenth century. Although, under
these conditions, I have been reluctantly obliged to'
discard many a fine old word dear to the heart of
the student of English, I have occasionally ventured
to retain in the text words and expressions which
'•re practically obsolete in modern English prose, or

olete in the sense in which I >x?»e them \ such, for

PREFACE.

example, as "gleed," "shrew," "I can no Latin,"
" an she would," and some others. But in every
case they are terms used by Shakspere, or by some
good Elizabethan writer, and a note of explanation
has been added where there seemed any doubt of
the meaning being understood. As a rule, then, I
have endeavoured to keep close to the original,
though at times, for the sake of clearness, I have
not hesitated to give a more general rendering of
the sense. It has seemed best also to omit, now
and then, a phrase or two whose broadness might
offend the modern ear. But these occasions are
rare, for Langland cannot, in any sense, be termed
a coarse writer.

I have tried to make my rendering as accurate as
it can be. It is impossible, however, but that here
and there errors of translation will be found, and I
shall be grateful to any scholar who may feel suf-
ficient interest in the book to point these out.

The text of the Viiion used as the foundation for
this rendering is that known as the B-text, pub-
lished by Professor Skeat in his small volume of
Piers the Plowman.' This text has also been
carefully compared with that in his larger edition
of the complete work, and occasionally the older
edition by Wright has been consulted. An occa-
sional reading has been taken from the C-text ;
and an Appendix of the most interesting additional
passages from the same version will be found at the
Rev, W. W. sweat.

X PREFACE.

end of this volume. The spelling of the mediaeval
Latin has been retained throughout. Only such
Notes have been added to the book as are needful
to bring out the complete meaning of the text;
and for many of these I am indebted to Professes
Skeat^s editions of the Vision, Readers who desire
to know more concerning the points of history,
archaeology, and language connected with the
poem are referred to these books, where they will
find such matters treated with enthusiastic scholar-
ship.^

And here I wish very heartily to thank Professor
Skeat, who is always ready to help younger workers
in his own field, for the very generous permission ]
he has given me to make such use of hb Notes as
I have done. Without that permission my labour
in annotating this translation would have been '-
trebled. I would also gratefully acknowledge the
cordial consent given to me for the same purpose
by the delegates of the Clarendon Press, who publish
the above editions of Piers the Plowman.

Finally, I offer my sincere thanks to the friends
who have so kindly given me different kinds of
help in preparing the book. Foremost among these
is Mr. Stopford Brooke, who, in spite of illness, has
read and criticised both my MS. and proof-sheets,
and, I need not say, has made invaluable sug-
gestions. I should also like to take this opportunity

' Piers the Plowman^ in three parallel texts, together with
Richard the Redeles, edited by Rev. W. W. Skeat. Oxford,
Chtrendon Press, 2 vols.

I

PREFACE, xl

>f expressing to him my gratitude for the enlighten-
nent, inspiration, and pleasure that his fine criticism
Df Knglish literature, in book and lecture, has given
to me and to many other students both in England
and abroad.

To Professor C. H. Herford, of University
College, Aberystw3rth, I am much indebted for
reading parts of my proof, and for advising me
upon several points of rendering at a time when his
bands were full of other work. To Miss Toulmin
Smith and Mr. Graham Wallas I owe thanks for
other aid ; and I am also grateful to a fellow-
student, who has been kind enough to revise
my work with the original, and to make many a
helpful suggestion. With these marks of goodwill
upon it I send the book forth, in the hope that it
may be received with something of the same friendly
interest by the larger world of readers, for whom it
has been prepared.

Kate M. Warren.
January 14, 1895.

William Langland's Vision of Piers tht FHowt
I is one of the Early English poems that may
appeal to many other readers than the professed
student of literature. It will ever be attractive
to those who care for a vivid account of certain
phases of life in England at one of the important
periods of her social history ; but, beyond this,
Langland's work touches some of the keenest
interests of our own day. In its picture of the
life of the labourer, and its protest against the
Of^ression of the poor by the rich and powerful,
it connects itself with that impelling desire for
social reform, which, in many and various ways,
U now striving to express itself, not only in Eng-
land, but all over Europe. Again, the plain moral
purpose of the poem— to uphold the value of the
good life, and the evil of its opposite — links it
somewhat to the modern interest in ethics,
the realistic treatment of certain portions
sgbject matter may commend it to tKe v^«^i

m

INTRODUCTION. ^H

taste of the day in literature. Moreover, the dee
humanity and hving earnestness of Langland's wor!
cannot fail to be felt by every reader.

But, having said this, we have to recognise thai
quite apart from the strangeness of the older Ian
guage, there are certain difficulties which beset th
ordinary reader who comes to the perusal of .
poem of 500 years ago. Though much of the groum
thought and feeling of it may be akin to those of ou
own time, yet the whole outward atmosphere of thi
world it represents is as widely different from ou
own as a primitive country inn from a colossa
hotel in London. Five centuries of pohtical, social
and mora! change divide us from the En^and o
the Visi'jn, and perhaps no change is greater, iw;
more affects the common life of the peoplei iH^
that which the lapse of years have brought abou;
in the position and influence of the Church witl
regard to the whole of society. In the fourteentl
century she was the overshadowing mother of th<
nation ; all but the most evil outcasts were includec
in her fold, her blessing brought prosperity, hei
curse ruin. Her servants were everywhere ir
society ; evil-doers they often were, but the worst
of them was believed by the unlearned foil
to possess a mysterious spiritual power, wit):
which the Church herself had endowed him
And even those who saw clearly enough tht
abuses of the visible institution could still
recognise that there was an invisible and idea]
}id\y Church, which, however unworthily rfpr^,

INTRODUCTION.

I on earth, yet justly daimed obedience and
Mr from all her children. More than anything
e does this fact of the all-prevailing presence of
the Church hinder us from realising fully the
inward and outward condition of life in which our
forefathers lived. And it forms one of the main
difficulties to the reader who may take up Piers the
Pliiwtnan for the first time. It is little wonder,
then, if, when we turn to enter that bygone century,
a mist of unreality should at first dim our vision of
the real human beings who move throughout the
book. But a sUghi knowledge of the history of the
fourteenth century in England, and a little imagina-
lii:^, will go far to put us in sympathy with the
world of Langiand.

The Vision of (i.e., concerning) Piers the Plowman

is only a portion of a much longer work known to.

, aadents under its Latin title of The Book of Piers the

'I {Liber de Peiro Plowman). This "Book

Sibes a series of dreams or visions, seen by its

lor, in which many allegorical figures appear,

)l of all these personages Piers (or Peter) the

' Ploughman is the most important ; so that though

he does not come into all the dreams, yet the book

is named after him.

The complete set of visions falls into two great
part»^the Vision of Piers the Plotumati, forming
about one-third of the whole, and the three-fold
Vision of Do-well, Do-better, Do-best. The first of
tbese is translated in this volume ; the second
B whole, of less general interest ihin the. &ttt,.

'%

xvi INTRODUCTION.

Passages of beauty and interest occur in it, but it is
discursive, the narrative element is not so good as in
the first, nor is the allegory as clear, and there is
much moralising.

The whole work is written in alliterative verse,
the form of metre in which nearly all our poetry
before the Conquest was produced. After that
event, however, this manner of verse almost dis-
appeared,' until the middle of the fourteenth cen-
tury when we have a revival of it in a group of
poems, of which Langland's is one of the chief. It
was not the most fashionable verse of the time, fof
that was French in manner, and was found in
elaborate lyric metres or the short riming coupleti
but it was English to the core, and would apped
very strongly to those classes of society b^ond
the circle of the Court, for which Langland chiefly
wrote.

Concerning the name of the author, though
tradition and custom have tended to fix it in the
form we here use, there is still some controversy.
His Christian name, he himself tells us, was
William, but whether his second name was Lang-
land or Langley is not yet finally settled. The
facts of his life are also uncertain. Some of these
he reveals in his poems, but his parentage and
ancestry, his date of birth, his birthplace, and his
true position in the social scale, are undetermined^

' Some critics hold, and with reason, that it never really dis-
appeared, but that we have lost what was written during the'
time.

mTRODUCTlON.

though many sidelights are thrown upon tbem fi

the poems,'

The account of his life most commonly received
and that which Professor Skeat thinks the niost ,
credible, is that the poet was born about 1332^
at Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire. He was put
to school, and became a scholar. When about
30, in 1362, he wrote, perhaps at Malvern, the
first draft of the Vision (known as the A-text),
About 1377 he expanded this into a second and
longer poem (the B-text), and at this time he may
have been living at Cornhill, in London. A few
years after 1390' he made the third and last
cevisioa of his work (the C-text), when he had
perhaps left London. He seems to have been by
profession a clerk of the Church, in minor orders ;
but, for some reason, never rose to any high
position in his calling, and only earned a fluctuating
livelihood by such clerical duties as he could
perform.

He was married, and from what he says, seems
to have been often very poor. He probably wrote
one other poem besides the great Book of Visions
that known as Richard the Redeles, in which he
tells UB that he was at Bristol in the year 1399. He \.
was then perhaps about sixty-seven, and this is the
last we hear about him.
From his own writings we know something of
it's look. His tall stature was remarkaU

xviu INTRODUCTION.

SO that people called him "Long Will." Asa
clerk of the church he wore "long robes," and his
head was shaven. His temperament made him
moody, and perhaps his poverty made him proud.
As he stalked grimly along the London streets he
saluted no one, but he took note of many a detail
of dress and behaviour in the passers-by, which
reminds us of Chaucer's habit of quiet observation.
But with what different eyes the two men looked
out upon the world ! There is hardly a more
striking contrast in the history of literature thaii
may be found in the life, character, mode of expres-^
sion, and manner of work, of these two English
poets who lived perhaps within a mile of each
other in the same City of London.

To discuss at any length the social and political
conditions of that England of the fourteenth
century to which these poets belonged, would
alone need a volume, and in various ways it has
been already done by writers of authority and
insight.* Moreover the poem itself gives no in-
accurate account of many phases of social life in
England. Langland's picture of priests, hermits,
friars, lawyers, doctors ; of the doings in the law-
court ; of the various classes of labourers, minstrels,
and beggars ; of the fine lady, in the person of
Meed ; of the sermon of an earnest-minded priest,

* See Green's Short History of the English People^ chap. v. ;
Town Life in the Fifteenth Century ^ by Mrs. J. R, Green;
and M. Jusserand's Piers Plowman; a contribution to the
JSIifsUry of English Mysticism.

INTRODUCTION. laaS

in the preaching of Reason ; of the motley gather-
ing in the inn ; of the chealery of the retail-dealer ;
of the lazy workman ; each and all are described
from the actual life the writer saw around him, and
are historically true. Still further, the spirit that was
animating in various degrees the whole of society— ^
the aspiration for a better social cond'itton — finds '
an outlet in Langland's work. Our author gave
voice to this widespread desire, not by advocating,
with Wyclif, radical changes in church doctrine
and church revenues, nor, with John Ball, a re-
organisation of the order of society, but by
demanding righteous dealing between man and
man, in every class of society, in the Church, in the
law-courts, in every kind of trade and labour, and
in the everyday intercourse of common life.T Lang- I
land sided with no particular movement or party ; I
he is neither a Wyclifite nor a follower of the I
socialistic John Ball, nor is he in any sense af
courtier. But he reproved and laid bare the
injustice and evil-doing in every class — literally
from the king to the beggar— and he favours none
of them, except that by his choice of the honest
ploughman as the type of righteous living he
^ems to have plainly indicated in what class lay
ihe most hopeful sign for the future regeneration
of society. He was no democrat in social and
political matters, though he reveals the very
germ of democracy in some of his sentences,
when he ivrites : "In the charnel house at the
dturchitis hard to know a knight {tom^Wnw^^'

(

XX INTRODUCTION. ^H

But he did not recognise the whole bearing of such
belief; and viewing him now in connection mth hi
time and its aspirations, we may well say that h
knew not what spirit he was of. That oftei
quoted couplet, which not unfairly expresses, in
rude form, one of the human facts which is a foun
dation for democratic teaching, belongs equally I
the teaching of Wyclif, John Ball, and Langland.

But Langland's application of it, as I have saic

as wholly different from that of the other reformer!

He looked out upon a social organisation whicl
was fast falling asunder ; for "the great fact of al
modern history is the breaking up of the feuda
and ecclesiastical system of the Middle Ages, am
the introduction, as political and social elements c
weight, of the middle and industrial classes." Am
in Langland's time we see the beginning of tha
process, in the Church, in political government, aU'
in the organisation of society.

In the Church, we have a state of things which
of necessity, prefaces a change. What that stat
was the Vision itself plainly declares. It tells of
corrupt and selfish body of Church officials, of al
ranks, from bishop to parish priest, who looked upoi
the Church as a means of getting an easy living
it paints, together with these, the crowd of monks
friars, hermits, and ecclesiastical officers (such a
the summoners), whose barefaced e^HI doings afk

r

INTRODUCTION.

^"^Ixurious lives were an open scandal everywhere ;

^tid the exceptions to such cases were few.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Langland's
t^ision agree in their picture of the Church.
\Videspread dissatisfaction was felt with the state
of things, and this was voiced by several earnest
writers of the time, WycHf carried on the most
active campaign against it, and not only attacked
the practice, but the doctrine and order of the
Church ; and expressed, we may believe, the feel-
ing of many in the changes he demanded. Lang-
land, however, is quite content with the ecclesias-
tical order, and even honours it. Pope, cardinals,
bishops, and all the festivals and services, penances
and fasts of Holy Church, are, as such, spoken of
with an unquestioning reverence. He is only
opposed to ecclesiastical officials when they forget
"Do-well," and live idly and wickedly, preying
upon others. And he enjoins on all laymen the
doty of constant attendance upon the Church ser-
vices and obedience to the Church commands. Even
against indulgences, in themselves, he says nothing ;
he only suggests that possibly they are not so
efficacious as a good life ; though, in his time, that
mere suggestion was a bold thing.

Again, as regards the social system of the age ;

I die feudal order was l^eginning to break up and
tryiDg to re-shape itself upon another model. The
good and saving principle of feudal society, that of

. iniltual service — protection given by the upper classes
■urn toi labour from xVve icwet — ^nt»s. \3Ksn%

xxii INTRODUCTION,

violated everywhere. Service, heavy and grind-
ing service, was demanded as a right from the lower
ranks of labour by the great nobles and landowners,
and the recompense of protection was ignored or
forgotten. In fact, there was not now the same
need for protection that had prevailed in the earlier
times of feudalism. The conditions were changing
on every side ; new and important classes of people,
below the ranks of the nobility, were arising, such
as the free labourer, the tenant farmer, the rich
burgher of the towns ; and what was wanted was
not protection, but freedom in which to work out
these new developments.

Langland did not see this, though he clearly
shows us what were the material conditions of
certain sections of this society. We have noticed
his picture of the Church. Of the magnificence
and lawlessness of the nobles, of the growing im-
portance of the great traders and burghers, he tells
us comparatively little ; but of the evil life and
misery of the lower classes in the town, and of the
peasantry in the country, he gives enough. And
/ history can witness that he speaks none too strongly.
^Yet he never suggests any change in the frame-
work of society. He would have King, Lords, and
Commons do their duty in that state of life to
which they have been born. If they do this, the
evils of the time, he thinks, will disappear.

He says little of his political ideal ; but it would

probably be a conservative one. And indeed, as far

as political rights are conceTtved,'E.t\^2LW^ ^twA^^ll ;

INTRODUCTION. isiii

■her social ideal been equal to her political, society
" 1 have needed less reforming. For, by the
1 of Edward III,, the most fundamental rights
^rliaraent were, in theory, at least, undisputed,
a if, in practice, they were often ignored. But
I actual work of Parliament was far from satis-
/ in Langland's time. The great Barons of
BTJpper House were all-powerful, and, as a class,
i of the welfare of those below them ; the
mons, the Lower House, composed of the lesser
IS, small landowners, and burghers, were often
ftqualiy oblivious of the needs of the people. They
had their own grievances, to redress which they
frequently fought, and thus did good work for the
Country ; but, on the whole, they themselves were
Sympathetic with the aristocracy, not with the com-
monalty. They sometimes sided with the barons
against the king, but the point of union between
kU classes was their common hatred of the power
and greed of the Church.

Hence the social agitation going on among
the rank and file of England found little sym-
pathy in Parliament. Its connection with that
agitation is chiefly displayed in the Ordinance and
Statute of Labourers, which by their enactments.
coDceraing the regulation of wages, tended to
throw back the free labourer into something of
the servile condition from which he had escaped.
There was indeed need for a reconstruction of
society, and those who most felt the need wer
the lowest ranks. The popular son^ ol ftia

^^y

xxiv INTRODUCTION.

I tell of their misery, as the Vision does. Contin
1 famine, frequent pestilence, and the tax-gathei
jVho came to them for funds to pay ofF the eo
I mous expenses of the futile war in France, pres
I heavily upon the poor. Upon such a state of thii
came Piers the Plowman^ which, though conser
tive in letter, contained the spirit of reform ;
sympathy with the oppressed, and indignation n
the oppressor.

We have evidence that Langland's work \
very popular ; forty-five MSS. of it are exta
and, moreover, it was imitated in two other poei
Pierce the Ploughman's Crede^ and the Plowma
Tale^ though in the latter the imitation does i
extend to much more than the title.

Of the three versions of the poem to wh
allusion has already been made, the first, or A-tc
is the shortest, and compared with the others
much less finished. The second, or B-text is ad(
to and greatly altered, and is universally judged
be " on the whole, the best suited for giving u
fair idea of the author's peculiar powers." The
text, the last version, is the longest, and tends
more difFuseness than the other two. All the th
texts contain the whole of the Book of Piers
Plowman. It will be remembered that the reiK
ing in this volume only gives a portion of t
Book — the Vision proper.

A brief analysis of the contents of the Vis
with a few comments, may be useful to the res
who comes fresh to Langland!^ 'woik. The poei

INTRODUCTION.

juvided into eight parts— a Prologue and seven

iier divisions, each of which is called spasms (<
^ tertian).

In the Prohgue, the author falls asleep on
iMalvern Hills and dreams of an unknown wilder-
' ness, with a tower on the east of it, and a deep
I valley on the west, occupied by a dungeon,
I Between the two boundaries is a iield full of
r, people of all kinds, working or'amusing themselves ;
but the Church element, in one form or another,
predominates. These are all more or less described,
sod none of them has a really good word from the
poet, except the ploughman and the honest hermits.
The narrative then slips off from the direct story of
the dream into a further description of the doings
of the Church dignitaries, and this leads to a digres-
sion upon the power of the keys deputed by St.
Peter to the Church of Rome.

Then we are swiftly and abruptly transported
back to the field, into a group of which the king is
the centre, and he is addressed by a lunatic, an
angel, a "glutton of words," and the Commons.
Then, all in a moment — and this is after Langland's
special manner — the whole of this piece of action
disappears, and its place is taken by a crowd of rats
and mice who come forth, helter-skelter, to a
"coundl," and act out the fable of the attempt to
bell the cat. This over, again the scene shifts to
another quarter of the field, and once more we see
the crowd moving quickly, hither and thither ; and
dth the cries of the cooks and taverners of the

1

xxvi INTRODUCTION.

Street touting for custom, this portion of the dream
closes.

Passus L continues the visions * A lovely la^
appears, and begins to tell the dreamer the meaoing
of all these things. The Tower is Truth, she sajSf
and then she turns to speak of righteous living, but
Langland interrupts her by asking to whom all the
money of the world belongs. She answers him
from the words of the Gospel, and goes cm to
explain what the dungeon in the valley means.
The dreamer asks who this wise woman can be.
She says that she is Holy Church ; at which he
begs her to instruct him, and the exhortation which
follows, though in these days may be considered an
old-fashioned type of sermon, is full of comnKm-
sense morality put in vigorous phrase ; and if it
need an apology, we may ask a modem reader to
remember its date, and view 'it from that stand-
point. The "heavy" Latin sentences which inter-
line it, and are found throughout the Vision^ were
not then a sign of pedantry, but represented to
the hearers literal sayings fi-om that Bible whkh
few laymen of the day could read ; and when they
heard the Latin they felt they were getting the
real thing, none the less efficacious because they
could not understand it. When Chaucer's Pardoner
preached, he tells us that

.... in Latyn I speke a wordes fewe.
To saffron with my predicacioun,
And for to stire men to devocioun.

.iC

I

I

\

INTRODUCTION.

^asstis IT., Holy Church is about to leave the
"r, but he begs her to stay and tell him more,
daily to teach him to know "the False."
ts out to him Falsehood and his fellows,
1 follows the vivid description of Lady
e most subtly conceived personage in the
i_ mingling of the legitimate attrac-
L-TCWard and of the false allurement
—and the account of Meed's approach-
age to Falsehood ; Holy Church now
; dreamer, who sleeps on and sees the
aration for the wedding of the two deceivers.
tut Theology suddenly interferes, reminding them
all of Meed's rightful office ; she ought to marry
■ Truth. He advises them to go to the king's Court
iSestminater, to get the matter settled. They
Be for the journey and set off ; but when they
I, being warned that the king means to bring
• ill-doing to justice, they all disperse in dire
haste, except Meed, who is brought to the king.
In connection with Meed's trial, it may be remem-
bered that, according to the feudal custom, no
heiress in wardship could marry without the con-
sent of her guardian, and Meed is the ward of the
king.

Passus in. shows us Meed at Westminster,
lodged luxuriously until the time for her trial.
Sie is so charming that every one wishes to be
friendly with her. Judges and clerks visit her,
and she gives them costly gifts. A friar hears
f confess, and absolves her o£ her ^\\amfc\es,^ ivwi^

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

on condition that she pay the cost of a new :
window for their church, in which her name sliall '
be engraven. This transaction calls forth a protests
from the writer against such ostentatious almsgiving./

We are then carried on to the trial of Meed^
which extends to the end of Passus JV., and is
conceived throughout with a fine directness. The
king would forgive the lady if she married
Conscience. She is willing ; but Conscience scorn-
fully refuses, and brings against her a long and
vehement indictment. Meed asks humbly for leave
to speak, and pleads for herself with such eloquent
cunning that the king exclaims, " Meed, methinketh^
is well worthy of the mastery ! "

Conscience, however, answers her, and shows the
difference between the two characters involved in
Meed — ^apparently denying to the lady before him
any of the good qualities of pure Reward ; and

e prophesies a golden age of Love and Justice.
Meed, full of anger, attempts to open up a fr^
dispute with Conscience, but the king silences
them both, and tries to reconcile them. Con-
science refuses to look at Meed unless Reason
bid him. Then Reason is sent for, and comes to
Court. The king pays him great honour, and they
take counsel together. At this point there comes
in — after that abrupt fashion of Langland, without
any preliminaries — a plaintiff, named Peace, who
presents a petition asking for redress against Wrong
who has used him ill. Meed tries to bribe Peaa
into silence, and Peace begs the king to stop tht

INTRODUCTION.

but this is refused, Reason supporting the

, and 6nally Meed is pronounced guilty and

ly reproved by the king, who threatens that

iture Reason shall judge every case in court.

" leaves the hail in disgrace, attended, however.

izer and summoner, and we see her no more.

n agrees to stay with the king for ever.

ends the first dream in the Vision of Piers

Mow man.

^ We are now conducted Co an altogether different
scene, though the background of the action is still
the Field of Folk. In Passus V. the dreamer
^aivakes, but sleeps again, and sees Reason preaching
in the Field before the king. Then there follows
what M. Jusserand has finely called the "general
confession of England in the time of the Planta-
genets," Moved to penitence by the preaching of
Keason and Repentance, the Seven Deadly Sins —
Pride, Lechery, Envy, Wrath, Avarice, Gluttony,
Sloth — make their confession, and it is a ruthless

f revelation of the seamy side of human nature in
the fourteenth century. The subject is treated
with the utmost realism, and it is in this portion
of the poem that Langland most allows his grim
humour to appear. But it is the stem humour of
the Puritan, who sees judgment descending even
as he speaks, and smothers his humour in reproof

IEOon as it leaves his lips.
the confession over, Repentance prays for all
I penitents, Hope collects them together with
tjutfirom her born, and they aW w\. a\i\. oa. 1^^^

INTRODUCTION.

TlJI

fiunous search for the shrine of Truth. Thi

one of the best -known passages of the poem, aod
finely executed. There is strong pathos in the few
lines which picture the hlind groping of the pil-
grims in their fruitless effort to find the right road ;
and biting satire in the situation of the Palmer
who cannot help them, though he has visited all
the great shrines. Then, in the midst of their per-
plexity, with the weird suddenness already alluded
to, Piers the Plowman comes forth, says that he
knows Truth well, and will show them the way ;
aad his description of the road (which involves an
interesting allegory) brings us to the end of the
Passus, which concludes in a dramatic fashion with
the sudden disappearance of a Pardoner to fetch his
bull and brevets, as credentials on the journey,
followed by a woman of ill fame, who would pass
for his sister,

Passus VI. opens with the complaint of the
pilgrims at the difficulty of the way before them ;
Piers offers to go with them as soon as he has
ploughed and sown his half-acre. The pilgrims
in return offer to help him, and Piers, after making
his will, sets them all to work. At noon, going
to inspect them, he discovers many lazy vagabonds
taking their ease in complete idleness ; and this
gives the author occasion for a piece of satirical
and realistic writing of the same vigorous and
ruthless type as that which describes the confession
of the Deadly Sins. After vain efforts to make the
^icafers labour, Piers calls out for Hunger, who

r 1

^" INTRODUCTION. xO^^^

j' SOWS them with hard usage, while in fear and

l) trembliog they hurry to work. Piers gets some

'I useful advice from him, and would then bid him

'■ ferewell. But Hunger refuses to go, he must first

dbe ; the people, in dismay, have then to feed him

*ith their scanty stock of provisions. Soon after, a

time of plenty comes to the land, and the Passus

, closes with a warning to the labourer against reck-

'csa indulgence of appetite in the year of abundance,

for Famine is always nigh at hand.

With Passus fff. we seem to lose sight of the
pilgrims, though we are still dimly conscious of
them in the background. Truth is now represented
as sending to Piers a bu!) of pardon for nearly every
class of sinner. Merchants and men of law, how-
ever, are only partially pardoned ; false beggars
have no pardon. The allusion to beggars leads
the author to dilate upon the life and doings of the
numerous " bidders and beggars " of the time ; by
which we realise that in the fourteenth century
they formed a complete " class."

Then a priest asks to see the bull of pardon sent
to Piers, and finding in it only two simple lines —
tkose who dr, well, shall iiave well ; those who do
evil shall have evtl—&coSi at it, when Piers in vexa-
tion tears the bull across, and the priest and he
dispute upon it. Their contention awakes the
sleeper, who debates with himself over the value
and meaning of his dream. The Vision concludes
with a fervent declaration concerning the efficacy
jod life, above thai of all the ^o'pt;s\i\iiH.,»s.
y of Doom. ^~

¥

INTRODUCTWN.

It will be seen from this brief analysis that thi
poem falls into three parts — the_accoiint of t h<
Field of folk and its interpretation by Holy Chjl£^
the story of Meed and her adventures ; and _th(
confession of the Deadly Sins, together with thi
penitents' search for Truth and the final bull o
pardon sent to them. All three are connected
"but, and here lies the chief artistic fault in du
work, too slenderly connected. A greater artisl
than Langland would not have been content tt
leave them thus ; he would either have connectec
them more vitally, or else ihave kept them as thret
distinct poems. The scene of the three vision!
is supposed to be the same Field, but at times w{
forget that entirely, so little has St to do with th(
main interest of the narrative. Again, some of tht
same moral qualities are impersonated in differeat
portions of the poem, such as Reason and Con-
ecience, and might have served to link the whole
together ; but they are mere abstractions, and nol
at all personages who eshibit any special cast a
character whenever they appear ; they only fonr
a vital connection between the parts of the poem
in as far as they help to express its unity of mora!
aim. It is therefore only when we come to considei
the separate dreams, and particular incidents in tht
dreams, that we feel justified in giving Langland
much credit for his literary form. The narrative
of the Prologue and of the Fable of the Rats,
within the Prologue ; the whole story of Meed and
each of her adventures : the incident of Piers and

Tn

INTRODUCTION.

ings with the pilgrims, are all well and com-
I shaped. Skill in construction was not, then,
j&ongest poinTorXanglana~j"fiis~s"trehgtT» lay
"n his bold and vivid description of the things
r before him, in his narrative power, in his
, incisive dialogue, and in the language and
T which he couched his whole work,
e cHief element in his style is sincerity. This -
's itself in passionate and rough directness, in
le uncompromising realism of his language, and in
' * certain simplicity and dignity of manner. As we
'Cad the Vision it is impossible to help feeling that
(.aogland's aim in writing it was to "deliver his _-
*Oul." He did not make poetry for pure pleasure.
lie had conceived, and passionately loved, a high
moral ideal for human life, but he realised bitterly,
looking on society, how far short the actual every-
day doing of men and women fell from that ideal ;
and, brooding on this, he was driven to express
what he felt, Langland was an artist much in the
same way as Bunyan was ; the form of his work
grew chiefly "out of passionate feeling, and not out
of self-conscious art." Wliat he had to say was
fliDreTo him than how he said it.

But the allegory of Langland resembles Bunyan
at other points. The allegorical things and persons
have, to begin with, this important quahty, that
their allegorical character is clear ; there is no con-
fusion of allegory with reality. The Field, the
Tower, the Dungeon, are on the surface simply
[orica]. HoJy Church, Meed, i.la.Tjt'cve.Ilsaii'j

ggOTica:

INTRODUCTION.

I Sins, Conscience, and the rest, are plainly allegorica
; we have no trouble in discovering whom the^
stand for. An exception may perhaps here be takei
to the figure of Piers the Plowman himself. To ou
century he does not at once clearly represent ai
allegorical character, as in the case of Peace ; bu
to the people of Langland's time he no doubt did
To them he must have been the type of Righteou;
( Living — of the good life of action, lived in the world
I as distinguished from the good life of contemplation
1 lived in withdrawal from the world, which wi
l^another thing altogether, and recognised as such. \
We find, then, in the Vision, the first necessity o
good allegory — to proclaim itself plainly as allegory
But there is another thing equally needful witi
this, the endowment of the allegorical machinery
with life and human interest. An allegory in whid
the scenes and figures are merely abstract virtue;
is as void of interest as the movements of automati
set over against a background of painted trees
Bunyan's allegory is the very opposite of this, and so
too, is the greater part of Langland's in the Vision
Many of the figures are so human that we watcl
them with the same interest we should give to rea
persons. We follow the doings of Meed as if shi
were an actual woman and not a type of Bribery.

But this humanity of the allegorical personage;
does not belong to all of them. A careful observei
will notice that it is the ill-doing folk in the storj
whom Langland makes most vivid ; he describe:
tAem wore fully than the others, he himself realteci

INTRODUCTION.

jbem more. To take but one example out
pnreral, compare Holy Church with Meed.
Holy Church we are only told that she was a lovely
lady, clothed in linen, and of gracious speech. She
IS but a mouth-piece for moral and religious
thoughts. We do not realise her as a woman.
But look at Meed ; her dress is minutely described,
her charming maimer, her plaintive and her angry
a, her triumphs and her distresses, her trickery

mton ways — are cleverly indicated in a few

Ijfrom time to time in the story. She repre-
main, to Langland, the most pernicious

F Self- Interest, but he saw her, too, as
Bvoman, and so he makes us see her.

I Piers the Plowman himself did not statu
!i in Langland's imagination as a vivid human
beiDg, like Sloth, for example. The poet could not
realise the Ploughman as Bunyan realised Great-
leart. The virtuous people in the Vision are
'ather reasoned out by the intellect than created
ay the vital shaping of the imagination from
materials gathered out of real experience. And,
in 80 far as this is true, Langland's work is le»i
:han Bunyan's.'

Langland's failure to realise in allegory the good:
Ls vividly as the evil seems to have sprung from
:he way he looked on actual life. It is true that

■ Some passages of the Vision, apart firom this qui
idU lenund reiiders of the Pilgrim's Progtm. The Field of
ilB'Woilil recalls Vanity Fail \ the desciiption of the Way to
rraUlj many a phrase concerning the road to the CelcKtinl

' ~" ' ■" ^ (& we bare a wicket-gate.

re-
JUS^^^J

m

I

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.

the material conditions of life for a great portic
the population of England were unjust, c
and desperately e\dl. No one can read of
time without allowing this ; but Langland ;
his gaze almost exclusively upon the vice,
oppression, the dishonesty, the mean trickery,
the ugliness of humanity ; he brooded ovei
diseases, and forgot to look sufficiently for hes
symptoms. And this frame of mind to some ex
as far as we can see in the Vision^ coloured his
of Nature. As a fact he seems to have noi
Nature very little at all, but when he does, ea
in the opening lines of the poem, she represen
him disaster and the punishment of men, in
form of storms, floods, famine, and pestilence ; \
the character of the allusion to the mist on Mai
Hills may indicate that he had been struck by
immeasureable and illimitable element in Nal
which mocks at the effort of men to control it.

He saw the darker side of life ; of its brig
aspect, of the common good fellowship of i
which appears here and there in every societ
«pite of all selfishness ; of the victory of men
wrong ; of the beauty and benignity of the Na
around them, he saw next to nothing. He h
faith that somehow the good will conquer evil,
it is a wavering one, and he sees no clear or prac
I means to that end.

We may suggest some reasons for this,
melancholic temperament and his poverty, toge
with his apparent failure to rise in the world

INTRODUCTION. xxxvii

lubt caused his view of life to be " sicklied o'er
1 the pale cast of thought " : and the troubles,
ti mental and physical, which beset the path of
fcpoor man, do not tend to make his vision true
I sane ; more especially, if, as with Langland,
laving grace of humour has been only scantily
pbwed upon him. Chaucer was at one time in
"W^al distress, but his Complaint to his Purse,
?nady dere," witnesses how humour helped
1 the strait,
1 greater reason for Langtand's excessively
Eview of life lies probably in the fact that_he
'.^apart, as-faras we know, from the most
J movement of the time against some of the
E_evil3 he so bitterly denounced, — that earnest
. practical movement for social and personal
I headed by John Ball ' and other brave
spirits, and which was represented in the world of
theology by Wyclif, Had he been able to put him-
self, even in thought, into sympathy with this
movement, his eyes would have turned more often
than they do, from the diseases of society to its
healthy aspirations and its gallant struggle to fulfil
them.

As it is, his hope turns, where indeed the hope of
every lover of the race rests finally, to the growth of
moral goodness in humanity ; but even his trust in

■ If Tcadei5 wish lo realise the nobles! spiiit of ihal movement
■ad its ideal aim, they cannot do better than turn to William
Morris's "Dieam of John Ball." The wrilet has there given
■ picture of the progressive movement of the fuurtcenlh century
WU» highest form.

iwviii INTRODUCTION. ^H

that is scarcely firm, and hence comes his wavering
faith in the future regeneration of the world. Had
he felt a stronger impulse from the progressive move-
ment of his time, in politics, in social life, and in
theology, he would, I repeat, have despaired less.
His intellectual position, however, with regard to
these things was below the high-water mark of
humanity in the fourteenth century. He only
reached that in his moral and religious ideal j
though he gives sign that his views on theology
were more advanced than those he held concerning
politics and social life. With the firamewnrkjjfJJie
politicalgovernment, and with the plan upon jvhidi
his society was organised, Langland, as I hav e said
before, was apparently content. Work thes£_DUI
faithfully, he thought, and things will go well .
Therefore he turns with all his might to insist
upon Do ■well — the good and loving life — as the
one thing needful for salvation in this worId~and
the world to come. In his high moral ideal he
is abreast of the noblest of his age ; " Be true,
be honest, be chaste, deal righteously with every
man," he says, "but" — and here he passes on
to higher ground than that of mere morality —
"except ye love faithfully, and give your wealth
to the needy, your goodness is as useless as a
lamp without a light. Love is the halm of heaven,
and no sin can be found in him who useth that
remedy."

In this ideal there are few to-day who will not be at
one with him. The great moral and spiritual tnjtfa,

INTRODUCTION, xxxix

he insisted upon is a central one for the true pro-
gress of humanity. For, with all the political and
social change which modern reform^s desire to see
accomplished, it will be always needful — in order
that their righteous work may not become void,
but produce a permanent effect upon the world's
true life — to uphold that ideal which, in spite of all
his personal gloom, and in the midst of the far
darker trouble of the world around him, Langland
maintained with a noble tenacity. It is on this
account that we have the right to place him grate-
fully among the true helpers of the world's progress
to its consummation.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE TIME OF LANGLAND, TO S
OF WHICH HE DIRECTLY REFERS IN PIERS THE PLOTVM^

Adapted, with some changes and additions, from Prof

Skeat's Piers the Plowman.

Edward II. deposed [see p. 37] Jan, 20,

Edward III. begins to reign Jan. 25,

Edward II. murdered [p. 37] Sept, 21,

Langland bom about

Chaucer born

Battle of Cre9y Aug, 26,

First great Pestilence ("The Death " or the ** Black Death ")

May 31, 1348, to Sept. 29,
An Ordinance regulating Wages of Labour, &c. [p. 102]

Statute of Labourers [p. 102]

Treaty of Br^tigny [p. 39] May^^

-Second great Pestilence Aug. 15, 1 361, to May 3,

Great storm of wind [p. 57] Saturday ^ Jan. 1 5,

A-Text of Piers the Plowman written

Third great Pestilence July 2 to Sept. 29,

A fourth Pestilence 1375 and

Death of the Black Prince June 8,

Jubilee of Edward's Accession [Preferred to on p. ^Feb.^

Death of Edward III June 21,

Speech of John of Gaunt, in his own vindication ...Oct. 13,

B-Text of Piers the Plowman written

Wycliffe's Translation of the Bible h about :

The Peasant Revolt (known as Wat Tyler's Rebellion) ... :

Chaucer writes his * * Canterbury Tales " about

C-Text of Piers the Plowman written probably about

Richard II. taken prisoner Aug. 18,

■ Voem. oi Richard the Redeles Sept.^

Richard II. formally deix)sed Sept. 30,

Death of Chaucer :

Probable date of death of Langlatvd about

ft > " .' » -■ ,

PROLOGUE.

TIU author falls asleep and dreams — His vision of the Field
between the Tower and the Dungeon — In the Field are
gathered all classes of people y and a king to whom an angel
speaks — The rout of rats and mice.

In a summer season when the sun was warm, I
clad me as a shepherd, in the habit of a hermit^
an evil-doer, and I went far and wide through
the world to hear the wonders.

But on a May morning on the Malvern Hills, a
marvellous thing befell me ; methought the fairies
wrought it. I was outwearied with wandering and
went to rest down by a broad bank beside a burn,
and as I lay there leaning, and looked in the water,
it sounded so merrily that I fell into a slumber.

Then I dreamed a marvellous dream — that I was
in a wilderness, I wist not where, and as I looked on
high, into the East toward the sun, I beheld upon
a hill ' a tower beautifully wrought. There was a
deep dale below,' and therein a dungeon with deep

* The word toft in the original = ** a slightly elevated, ex-
posed site.'*

* The dale is said to be ** westwarde" in the C-text.

2 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

and dark ditches, and dreadful to look at. A fair
field full of folk I found betwixt the dale and hill,
with all manner of men, working and wandering as
the world requireth. Some put themselves to the
plough and full seldom played. They laboured
full hard in planting and in sowing, and won what
wasters destroy with their gluttony. And some
followed pride, and thereafter apparelled them-
selves and came tricked out in fine clothing.

Many put themselves to prayers and penance;
and all for our Lord^s love,; hoping to win the
bliss of heaven, they lived full straitly ; such as
anchorites and hermits, who stay in their cells
and covet not to wander through the land seek-
ing dainty living to delight the flesh. And some
choose trade, and these prosper the better, for it
seemeth to us that such men thrive. And some
as minstrels are skilled to make mirth and get
gold by their glee ; without sin, I grant. But
jesters and janglers, the children of Judas, feign
fancies and make fools of themselves, and yet
have wit at will to work, if they needs must. I
will not here prove what Paul preacheth of them,
for Qui turpiloquium loquitur ' is Lucifer's servant.

Bidders * and beggars moved quickly about with

' Whoso speaketh filthy speech.

' Bidders is only a synonym for beggars^ but I keep the word
rather than lose the flavour of the old phrase '' bidders and
beggeres " which frequently occurs in Langland. To bid in
Early English is to ask or pray. Compare the old expressions
hidding-prayery and to bid btads^ «.^., to pray prayers.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN.

their bellies and their bags crammed ful! of bread,

and told lying tales for their food and fought in

the alehouse. God wot, in gluttony those Robert

knaves ' go to bed, and rise up with ribaldry, and

sleep and sorry sloth ever pursue them. ' Pilgrims

and palmers pledged themselves to seek St. James »

and the saints in Rome. They went on their way

_ with many wises tales, and had leave to lie all their

^^Uk afterwards. I saw some who said they had

^^^Hbt saints, and in every tale they told it seemed

^^^K their speech that their tongues were more

HRKd to lying than to telling truth) A crowd of

f' hermits _ with hooked staves went to Walsingham,

: ' and their wenches after them ; great and long

i loobies, who were loath to labour, clothed them-
selves in cloaks to be known from the others,
and made hermits of themselves to have their [
Thei-e I found friars of all the four Orders,'
who preached to the people for their own profit, !
and interpreted the Gospel as it seemed good to
them ; for greed of clothing they explained it
as they would. Many of these master friars may
clothe them at their own liking, for their money
and their merchandise go together ; for since
Charity hath turned chapman, and chief con-

■ A sel of lawless vagabonds, notorious for their outrages
wlien Pia-s Plowman was wrillen. {Stent.)
' His shiine ivu at Composlelln,
' The C-texI has " unwise tales.
> /.(., the Caimelites, Augustines, Docninu:a.iis,3nd W^

n Galicio.

i 4 LANGLAND''S VISION OF

fessor of lords, ' many wonderful things have
happened in a few years. Except Holy Church
and they hold together better, the greatest mis-
chief on earth will speedily arise.'

A Pardoner 3 was preaching there as if he were
a priest ; he brought forth a bull with the bishop's-
seals, and said that he himself could absolve them
all of broken fasts and broken vows. Laymen
believed him, and liked his words, and they came
up kneeling to kiss his bulls. He thrust his brevet
in their faces and bleared their eyes, and gained
rings and brooches by his charter. Thus they give
their gold to keep gluttons, and put their faith in
such fellows, who follow lechery. If the bishop
were holy and worth his two ears, his seal would
never be sent to deceive the people thus. But it
is not against the bishop that the youth preacheth,*
for the parish priest and he divide the silver which
the poor folk of the parish ought to have, but foi
them.

Parsons and parish priests complained to the

■ This alludes iq ihe money received 1™ frEars for henring con-
fessions; and the frisis literally resembled pedlars when they
cinied about with them knives and pins Id give away to women.
Sec ihe Friar in Chaucer's Prologue. {Sitat.)

' The rocvilac iiiars and secular clergy quarrelled fiercely as to
the right ofhearing confessions.
> A seller of pardons.

• Professor Ske»t considers this passage lo be "slightly
humorous," meaning, " but you may be sure thRt it is never
' inst (or wilh refermce to Uic bishop) that he preaches." For
I'nriloncr had obtained leave lo preach and give pardons
n the bishop himKlf-

w

bishop
time of

I .nil 1«

FfSXS THE PLOWMAN.

ice ^^^1

bishop chat their parishes had been poor since \
e of the pestilence,' that they might get lice'
and leave to dwell in London and sing for simo^^^^
the service there ; for silver is sweet. _

Bishops and novices, both masters and doctors,
who bold their cures under Christ, and have the
tonsure in token and sign that they should shrive
their parishioners and preach and pray for them
and feed the poor, live in London in Lent and at
other times. Some serve the King and count out
his silver ; they claim his debts in Exchequer and
Chancery from the Wards " and Wardmotes,^ and
also claim waifs and strays.^ And some as ser-
vants serve lords and ladies, and sit as stewards
giving judgment ;s their Mass and Matins and
many of their Hours '• are done undevoutly. It
is to be feared that Christ at the last will curse full
many of them in His Court.'

As to the power to bind and to unbind, that Peter
had in charge, as the Book telleth, I perceive how
he left it with love, as our Lord bade, amongst four

' Between 1348 and 1376 there were several great peslilm
Pcobably the lirsl, that of 134S, is here meant.

* DivisioDs of ihe city.
3 The conns at meeliogs held in the Wards.

• Property without an owner and strayed cattle ( IVright) ; 1
the old sense of itray also meant goods which a stranger lea
behind him at death, and which go to the king or lord for default
if heirs. {Skiat.)

' iX^^ '^^'' lecular occupation Tor sake of gain.

(taical hours, prayers made at stated times in the day.
" in the Consistory," i.c., the Church coundl, e
ly of prelates ; heie used of the Day of Judgment.

r

LANGLANDS VlSJOff OF

virtues," the best of all the virtues, which are called
Cardinals, and Closing Gates,' where ChrisI
reigneth in his kingdom, to close and to shut anc
to open it unto them, and to show Heaven's bliss
But as to the cardinals at court 3 who received thai
name, and presumed they had power in themselve:
to make a pope; that they have that power thai
f Peter had I will not call in question ; for the elec
tion belongeth to love and to learning, therefore '
can, and cannot, speak more of that court/

Then there came a King, led by Knighthood, ant
the power of the Commons made him reign. Anc
then came Mother-wit and made clerks s to counse
the King and to care for the commonweal.

The King and Knighthood and Clergy plannec
that the Commons should provide for themselves.
The Commons then devised handicrafts whicl
Mother-wit could undertake, and ploughmen ' wen
ordained for the profit of all the people, to till anc
to labour, as honest life requireth.

■ I.e. , St. Petei deputed Ihe power of the keys to the fon
cardinal virtues, — Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice

' This is a sort of translation of the Lat. cai-diiiaiis, derivet
fiicno eardo, a hinge. The power of the keys is, as it were, iiiad<
for the moment into a power of Ihc hinges. [.Skial.)

i T.e., at the court of Rome.

* I (an speak more, for I have much 1 could say about them
yet I cannet apeak more, out of reverence, for (he power r
electing a pope IS a high and holy thing. {Sitai.)

s Students and men of learning.

* Themselves appears to stand here for all of thtiii ; th
text reads ^^ provide their pnminons"
' These seem to be counted as a fifth class, and tookc

I w inferior to the rest.

PIERS THJ^ PLOWMAN, .7

The King and the Commons and Mother-wit, the
^d, made Law and Loyalty, that each man might
^ow his own. Then a lunatic looked up, a lean
Aing* withal, and kneeling said, scholar-wise, to
Ae King : " Christ keep thee, Sir King, and also thy
«ngdom, and grant thee so to govern thy land that
-^yalty may love thee, and thou be rewarded in
leaven for thy righteous rule."

And then, in the air on high, an angel of Heaven
looped to speak in Latin — so that laymen might
ot discuss nor judge what should just^ them, but
hey suffer and serve — therefore the angel said :

'* Sum Rex, sum Princeps * neutrum fortasse deinceps ; —
O qui iura regis * Christi specialia regis,
Hoc quod agas melius * iustus es, esto pius !
Nudum ius a te * vestiri vult pietate ;
Qualia vis metere * talia |prana sere.
Si ius nudatur * nudo de lure metatur ;
Si seritur pietas * de pietate metas ! " '

' The word thing merely signifies here a creature or person^
here is no contempt in the use of it.

' (You say) *' I am a king, I am a prince,*' (but you will be)

** neither perhaps hereafter.
O thou who dost administer the special laws of Christ the

King,
That thou mayst do this the better, as thou art just, be

merciful !
Naked justice requires to be clothed by thee with mercy,
Whatever crofMs thou wouldst reap, such be sure to sow.
If justice is stripped bare, let it be meted to thee of naked

justice ;
If mercy is sown, mayst thou reap of mercy !"

(Shears transhHon.)

8 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

Then a glutton of words, a Goliardus,' was angry
and answered afterwards to the angel on high :

" Dum rex a regerc * dicatur nomen habere,
Nomen habet sine re * nisi studet iara tenere." '

And then all the Commons cried in Latin verse, for
the King's counsel — if any would interpret — "/V^-
cepta Regis sunt nobis vincula legisJ^^ 3
^^With that there ran all at once a rout of rats*
and small mice, more than a thousand, with them,
and came to a council for their common profit. For
a Cat of a Court came when he liked and caught
them easily, and seized them whenever he would,
and played with them perilously, and pushed them
about. "For fear of divers dangers we dare not
look about us ; and if we grumble at his game he
will vex us all, scratch us, or claw us, or hold us in
his clutches, so that our life becom^h hateful before
he letteth go of us. If we could by any device

' A word which went through many changes of meaning — ^it
was originally derived from Golias, the real or assumed name of
a man of wit, towards the end of the thirteenth century. It
here seems to mean ** a glutton of words," one who was roll of
long pieces which he could recite.

^ While a ruler is said to have his name (from ruling),
He has the name without the thing unless he study to keep
the laws.

3 The precepts of the king are for us the bonds of law.

^ In tms version of the ancient fable the rats are the citizens
and influential commoners ; the mice are the less important folk ;
the cat is Edward III., or, as some say, John of Gaunt, bxA the
kitten is his grandson Richard, then heir to the throne, and
afterwards Richard If.

r

PIERS THE PLOWMAN.

withstand him we might lord it up above, out of his
reach, and live at our ease."

A rat of renown, very ready of tongue, said that
to his mind this was the sovereign remedy: "I
have seen men," he said, "in the city of London,
hearing bright rings about their necks, and some
with coUars of cunning workmanship ; they run
loose both in warren and waste wherever they
please, and at other times they go elsewhere, as I
hear tell. Were there a bell on their collar, by
Jesu, methinketh men might know where they
were going and run away. And right so," said
that rat, " reason telleth me to buy a bell of brass
or of bright silver and fasten it on to a collar for
our common good, and hang it upon the Cat's neck,
and then we can hear whether he moveth or resteth
or runneth to play ; and if he like to play then we
can know it, and appear in his presence as long as
it pleaseth him to sport ; and if he grow wrathful,
beware and shun his path."

All the rout of rats agreed to this plan, but
when the bell was bought and hanged upon the
collar there was no rat in all the company who
durst, for the realm of France, have bound the bell
about the Cat's neck, nor durst hang it about the
Cat'i throat to win all England. And they thought
themselves not bold enough and their counsel weak,
and they held their labour lost and all their long
devising.

A mouse, who had good parts, methougll

r

LANGLAND'S VISION OF

brushed forth sternly to the front and stood befisi
them all, and to the rout of rats spake these words
" Though we killed the Cat yet would there com
another to scratch us and all our kind, though w
should creep under benches. Therefore I couns<
all the commons to let the Cat be, and never be s
foolhardy as to show him the bell. For I heard m
sire say, seven years ago, that where the Cat is
Kitten the court is very miserable. Holy Writ wil
nesseth to that, wjioso mil read it : Ve terre vl
tiuer rex est, etc' j For no man may have rest ther
by night for the rats; while he' catcheth rabbits ou
carrion he coveteth not, but feedeth himself wit!
naught but venison — may we never defame him
For belter is a little loss than a long sorrow — th
sorrow of confusion amongst us all, if the Ca
died, though we got rid of a tyrant. For we mic
would destroy many men's malt, and also ye rout <
rats would rend men's clothes were there not tha
Cat of the Court who can catch you ; and had y
rats your will ye would not rule yourselves. A
for me," said the mouse, " I see so much tha
would come afterwards that never shall the Cat Q
the Kitten be vexed by my counsel. And talk ti
more of this collar, that never cost me aught, an'
though it had cost my goods I ivould not confess ii
but suffer him to do as he pleasetb, fastened and un
fastened, to catch what he may. Therefore ever

' Woe to Ihee, O land, whose king 15 a boy.
' /^., the Col.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN, ii

I

'Wise man I warn : let him look well to his
ovn." ^

What this dream meaneth, ye merry men, divine
ye ; for, by dear God in Heaven, I dare not.

V.

Also in that field there moved about a hundred
in silken hoods, they seemed like Serjeants at the
Bar. They pleaded the law for pence and pounds,.
^nd would not once unloose their lips for simple
love of our Lord. Sooner mightest thou measure
bhe mist on Malvern Hills than get a mumble from
their mouth, except money were shown them.

Barons and burgesses and bondmen also I saw in
this assembly, as ye shall afterwards hear. Bakers
and brewers and many butchers, wool-weavers and
weavers of linen, tailors and tinkers and collectors
of dues in the markets, masons and miners, and
many other crafts. There moved about every kind
of labourer living, such as ditchers and delvers who
do their work ill and spend the long day in " Dieu
vous save Dame Emmay '

Cooks and their knaves cried, " Hot pies, hot !
Good pigs and geese ! Come and dine, come and
dine ! " Taverners, too, cried to the passers-by,
" White wine of Alsace, and red wine of Gascony,
wine of the Rhine and wine of Rochelle, to wash
down the roast ! "

All this I saw asleep, and seven times more.

* " God save you, Dame Emma," the refrain of a popular
song.

PASSUS I.

A lovely lady tells him the meaning of the Tower and Dungi
— She is Holy Churchy and instructs him coneemiitg Tru
Pride^ and Love,

What this mountain meaneth, and the dark ds
and the field full of folk, I will show you plainly.

A lady of lovely countenance and dothed in lin
came down from a castle and called to me gracious
and said, ^' Son,' sleepest thou ? Seest thou t
people, how busy in the crowd they are ? Most
these people who live on earth, if they have hono
in the world wish for nothing better ; of ai
other heaven than here they hold no reckoning

Though she was fair I was afraid of her face, ai
said, ^^ Pardon, madam, what meaneth this ? "

** In the tower on the hill," she said, " is Trutl
and He would that ye should do as His wo
teacheth you, for He is the Father of Faith wl
made you all, both fell * and face, and gave you fi
wits to honour Him therewith, while ye are hei

' The C-text has ** Will " — a proper name, and LanglaU'
own.

^ Le., skin. I have kept the original word for the sa
of alliteration ; it is ^still in use for the skin of an animal,
hide.

X2

F

*vnd ther

PIEKS THE PLOIVMAN.

Vnd therefore He bade Che earth provide each of
jTou at your need with wool and with linen and
hrith food, in such measure as to give you ease.
And graciously commanded three things in com-
tnon ; none but those are needful, and I will name
them and reckon them up rightly, and afterwards
do thou repeat them : — The one is clothing to
keep thee fi-om the cold, and then meat for meals
to keep off discomfort, and drink when thou art
dry. But do nothing out of measure, lest thou be
the worse when thou shouldst work. Therefore
fear pleasant drink and thou shalt do the better ;
moderation is a medicine, though thou mayst yearn
lormuch. Not all that the body asketh is good for
the spirit, nor is all life to thy body that is dear to
thy soul. Beheve not thy body, for a liar teacheth
it, to wit, the wretched world which would betray
thee. For the devi! and the flesh together follow
thee, both this and that pursue thy soul and
whisper in thine heart ; and that thou mayest be
irary I teach thee the best."

" Pardon, madam," I said, " your words pli
well, but the money of the earth that men ht
so fast, tell me, madam, to whom that treasi
belongeth ? " _

" Go to the gospel," said she, " that God himself
spoke when the people questioned him in the
temple about a penny, whether they should there-
with honour Ceesar the king. And God asked of
them, Of whom spake the superscription and likewise

14 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

the image that stood thereon ? * Cesarts^ they said,
' we all see him plainly.' * Reddite Cesari^ » said
God, * what Cesari belongeth, et qui sunt dei^ deaf f
or else ye do ill.* For rightfUl Reason should rule |
you all, and Mother-wit be warden to keep your
wealth, and be guardian of your treasure and at l^
need deliver it to you, for those two and Thriftinos Ij
hold together."

Then I asked her plainly, by Him who made
her, ** I beseech you, madam, what may mean that
dungeon in the dale, that is dreadful to look at ? "

" That is the Castle of Care, and whoso cometh
therein may curse that he was born either body or
soul. A man dwelleth therein who is called Wrong,
the Father of Falsehood, and he built it. He ^gged
on Adam and Eve to do ill, and he counselled Cain
to kill his brother, and beguiled Judas with the
Jews' silver, and then hanged him afterwards on an
elder tree. He is the spoiler of Love and lieth to
every one, and those who trust in his treasure he
betrayeth soonest."

Then I wondered in my mind what woman it

might be who taught such wise words from Holy

Writ, and in the High Name I asked her, ere she

went away, who verily she was who counselled me

i so graciously ?

" I am Holy Church," she said, " thou oughtest
know me ; I received thee the first and taught thee

* Render to Caesar.

■ And [the things] which arc of God to God.

\

PTBRS IffE PLOWMAIf. 15

: faith, and thou didst bring me sureties that
Ifiou wouldst fulfil my bidding and love me faith-
IfilUy while thy life shai)f endure."

Then I fell on my knees and besought mercy of
her, and begged her piteousiy to pray for my mhs,
and also to teach me kindly to believe on Christ,
M that I might do His will who made me man.
^Show me the \vay to no treasure, but tell me
this one thing — how I may save my soul, thou
that art accounted holy ! "

"When all treasures have been tried," she said, .
" Truth is the best." I call to witness the text I
Dtus caridis ' to prove it. It is as precious a
treasure as dear God Himself. Whosoever is true
of tongue and telleth truth alone, and doth works
accordingly and wisheth no man ill, on earth and
above he is a god the gospel saith, and like our
Lord, according to St. Luke's words. The clerks
who know this should teach it over the land, for
Christians and heathen claim alike to learn the
truth. Kings and knights shoidd keep it rightly,
and ride and speed through the kingdoms, and take
Imiisgressores and bind them fast, till Truth had
determined their trespass. And that is plainly the
profession for knights, and not to fast upon one
Friday in five score winters, but rather to hold
with him and her who would do the truth wholly,
and never leave them for love or for lack of silver.
For David in his day dubbed knights, and made »
' God is love.

i6 LANGLANEtS VISION OF

I them swear on their sword for ever to serve Truth;
and whosoever had so sworn (if he fell away) was
apostata * in the order. But Christ, the King of
kings, knighted ten Orders, Cherubin and Seraphin,
and seven more such, and one other, and by His
majesty gave them power and made them arch-
angels over His lower servants, and it seemed then
the happier to them. And He taught them to
know the truth concerning the Trinity, and to be
obedient to His bidding ; naught else did He
command them.

*' Lucifer learned this in Heaven with the legions,
but because he obeyed not he lost his happiness ;
and fell from that fellowship in a devil's likeness
into a deep and dark hell to dwell there for ever ;
and more thousands than man could number went
forth in loathsome form, for they believed upon
him who deceived them in this manner : jRottam
pedem in aquilont^ et similis ero aliissimo.^ And
all who hoped it might be so, no heaven could hold
them ; but they were falling from it for nine days
together, till God in his goodness paused and
stayed, and bade the heavens close fast and stand
quiet. These wicked ones fell in a wonderful
way when they went forth ; some abode in the
air, some on earth, and some deep in hell ; but
Lucifer lieth the lowest of them all. His pain shall

' Apostate. "An apostata was one who quitted his order
after he had completed the year of his novitiate."

' I will place my foot in the North, and shall be even as the
Most High.

PISRS THE PLOWMAN.

iwed ; \ T

[ve no end, because of the pride that he showed
I and all that do wrong they shall go and dwell with
' that shrew after their death. But as Holy Writ j
telleth lis, those that do well and make their end, .,
as I said before, in truth, (that is the best), may be
sure that their soul shall go to Heaven, where is
Truth, which is the throne of the Trinity. There-
fore I say, as before I said, by witness of these texts,
When all treasures are tried. Truth is the best. | '
Teach this to these unlearned men (for the learned {
men know it) — that Truth is the choicest treasure \
on earth."

"Yet have I no understanding,'' ' I said ; "still
must ye teach me further as to Truth ; by what
power it commenceth to live in my body, and
where it beginneth."

" Thou foolish dolt," she said, "thy wits are dull,
thou learnedst too little Latin, man, in thy youth.
Heu micki^ quid stertlem duxt vitam mitenilem I '
It is Conscience, verily, that doth teach thee in thyl
heart to love thy Lord better than tliyself, and to
do no deadly siit though thou shouldst die for it.
This I believe is according to Truth ; if any can tell I
thee better see that thou suffer him to speak, and
then teach it afterwards.

For thus His word witnesseth, and do thou
hereafter, for Truth sailh that Love is the balm

' Kynde kncuiing, i.t., lileialty, natural underslonding.
few lines lowur the aame phrase stands for CaitscieKct.
' Woe is me I because I have led a barren life in my youlfl

3

j8 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

of Heaven, and no sin can be found in him

who useth that kind of remedy. All His works

He hath wrought with love as it pleased Him,

and He taught it to Moses for the worthiest

thing and most like to Heaven ; and also it is the

plant of peace and the most precious of virtues.

For Heaven could not hold it,^ it was so heavy m

itself, till it had eaten its fill of the earth. And

when it had of this earth taken flesh and bloody

there was never a leaf upon linden lighter ; and it

was quick and piercing as the point of a needle, so

that no armour nor no high walls could hinder it.

Therefore Love is the leader of the people of the

Lord of Heaven, and a mediator, as the Mayor is

between the King and the Commons. Even so is

Love a leader and maketh the law, and fineth a

man for his misdeeds. And for to know of it more

closely, it beginneth mightily and hath its head

and well-spring in the heart.

For in Conscience a power springeth in the

heart, and that is of the Father who made us all,

who looked on us with love and let His Son die

meekly for our misdeeds to amend us all. And

yet He wished no woe to them who Avrought for

Him that suffering, but meekly He besought Mercy

to have pity on the people who put Him to death.

Here thou mightest see example in Himself alone :

that He was mighty and meek and granted mercy

* /.^., " love ; here used of the love of Christ, which heaven
could not contain, till it had * eaten its fill of the earth'; ue,,
participated in the human nature by Incarnation." [SkeOt,)

^^V PIEHS THE PLOWMAN. *^^^

to them who hanged Him on high and pierced His
tieart. Therefore I counsel you rich, have pity on
the poor ; though ye be powerful to bring to
justice, be meek in your deeds, for with the same
measure that ye mete, evil or otherwise, ye shall
be weighed therewith when ye go hence. Eadem
nunsura qua mensi fuerttis, remccietur vohis. '
And though ye be true of tongue and truly earn
your livelihood, and be as chaste as a child who
weepeth in church,' yet except ye love faithfully
and give to the poor, and distribute well such
wealth as God hath sent you, ye shall have no
more merit in Mass nor in Hours than Malkyn i
hath of her maidenhood that no man desireth.
For James the Gentle in his books hath laid it i
down that faith without the deed is verily nothing
worth, and as dead as a door-post unless deeds |
follow it. Fides sine opcribus mnrttia est, &c.*

" Therefore Chastity without Charity shall be |
chained in hell ; it is as useless as a lamp that hath
no light. Many chaplains are chaste, but have no
charity ; and no men are more covetous than they
when they are advanced. They are unkind to their
kindred and to all Christians ; they devour what
they should give in charity and cry for more.
Such chastity without charity shall be chained in

' With Ihe same measure which ye shall have measured,
ihftll be measured to you again.

° Probably refers to a child being baptised.

J A proverbial name for an unchaste slaiieni. {Si'ral.

' Faith without works is dead, &c.

: iiictuuicu. It I

20 LANGLANJys VISION.

hell ! Many priests keep them clean of body, but
they are cumbered with covetousness and cannot
put it from them, for avarice hath so hardly bound
them up together. And that is no truth of the
Trinity, but treachery of hell, and a lesson to
laymen to give alms all the later.* Therefore
these words are written in the gospel : Date et
dahttur vohis^ for I give to all of you. And that
is the lock of love and letteth out my grace, that
it may comfort the troubled who are cumbered
about with sin.

" Love is the leech 3 of life, and nearest our Lord
Himself, and also the strait gate that leadeth into
Heaven ; and therefore I say, as I said before,
according to the texts, when all treasures are tried
Truth is the. best.

" Now I have told you what Truth is — that no
treasure is better — no longer may I tarry with
thee. Now our Lord keep thee ! "

' /.^., to put off giving alms altogether.
' Give, and it shall be given to you.
3 /.tf., physician.

■'^-

PASsus n.

Holy Church tells the dreamer of Meed and Falsehood and
their proposed marriage — Tne wedding is arranged ^ but
Theology objects — All the company ride to London to try
the case at Westminster — TTiey reach the Kin^s Courts
and he vatus to punish them ; they all run away^ except the
Lady Meed.

Yisrc still I knelt and prayed favour from her, and
said : " Pardon, Madam, for the love of Mary of
Heaven, who bare that blessed Child that bought
us on the Rood, teach me by some means to
know Falsehood."

"Look upon thy left hand and lo, where he
standeth ! both Falsehood and Flattery and their
many fellows I "

I looked on my left hand, as the lady told me, and
was aware of a woman clothed beautifully, having
a robe bordered with the finest fur on earth ; and
she was crowned with a crown ; no better is the
King's own. Her fingers were daintily adorned
with gold wire, and red rubies were thereon, as red
as any gleed,' and diamonds of greatest worth and

' /.^., burning coal, or spark of fire.

3X

22 LANGLANJyS VISION OF

twofold manner of sapphires, orientals ' and beryls,
to destroy venom." Her robe was exceeding rich,
dyed with red scarlet, with bands of red gold
and precious stones. Her array ravished me, such
riches I had never seen, and I wondered what
woman she was, and whose wife she might be.

"What is this woman," I said, •^so richly
attired ? "

" That is Meed the Maid," 3 she answered, " who
hath full often vexed me, and brought blame on my
lover who is called Loyalty/ And she hath belied
herself to the lords who guard the laws. She is as
familiar as myself in the Pope's palace ; but Truth
would not have it so, for she is a bastard, and her
father Avas Falsehood, who hath a deceitful tongue,
and hath never told the truth since he canie upon
the earth. And the ways of Meed are as his, even
as kinship must needs have it. Qualis pater ^ talis

' Langland's word here is orietUaUs — ^to be disdnguis^ed
from the preceding word safferes, '* The precious stones called
l^ the uipidaries Oriental Ruby^ Oriental Topaz, Orienial
Amethyst, and Oriental Emerald^ are red, yellow, violet, and
green sapphires, distinguishable from the other gems of the
same name, which have not the prefix Oriental, by their greatly
superior hardness, and greater specific gravity" (quoted from
Eng, Cyclop, by Prof. Skeat).

' " It was a common belief that precious stones would cure
diseases, and that they were as anddotes against poison*'

iSkeat).

3 The Lady Meed represents both Reward in general and
Bribery in particular ; her name is sometimes used in oiie
sense only ; sometimes with a mingling of both meanings. See
Passus iv. for an explanation of the two kinds of Meed.

* Or Good-fidth.

FIERS THE PLOWMAN.

1

fiHtts ; bona arbor bonum Jructiim/actt.' I ought
to be higher than she, for I came of a better line.
My Father is the great God and the ground of
every grace, one God without beginning, and I am
His true daughter ; and He hath given me Mercy
in marriage, and whatsoever man be merciful and
love me faithfully, he shall be my lord and I his
beloved in the high Heaven. And whatsoever
man taketh Meed, I dare lay my head that for her
love he shall lose a share of Caritas. ' How
speaketh David the King concerning the men who
receive Meed, and the men who uphold Truth ?
And the Psalter beareth witness how ye shall save
yourselves : Domiite, gttis habitabit in tabernactilu
tao, &c.^

" And now this Meed is to be married withal to
a cursed shrew, to one Falsehood -Fickle '-tongue,
who was begotten of a devil. Flattery, through
his fair speech, hath bewitched this people, and it
is wholly Liar's doing that Meed is thus to be
wedded. To-morrow is to be the maiden's bridal,
and there thou mayest see, if thou will, who they
all are, both the less and the greater, who follow
with them. Learn to know them all there, if
thou canst, and keep thy tongue, and blame them
not, but let them be, till Loyalty be Justice and

• Ae Ihe father so ihe daughter ; a good tree bears good ftuiL

• Charily.

• Iiwd, who shall dwell in thy labcnmcle, &c.
" "■• ■ 'i Middle English, does not mean c/iaitgiablt.

i

24 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

have power to punish them ; then put forth thy
reason.' Now I commit thee to Christ and to ffis
pure mother/' she said, ^' and let Conscience never
trouble thee because of Meed's avarice."

Thus that lady left me lying asleep.

And in a dream methought I saw how Meed
I was married. All the rich retinue that bear rule
with Falsehood, on each side, were bidden to the
bridal ; all kinds of men both poor and rich.
Many a man was assembled to marry this maiden^
such as knights and clerks, and also common
people ; sizers ' and summoners, 3 sherifife and
their derks, beadles and bailiffs, and brokers of
merchandise, fore-runners < and victuallers, and
advocates of the Court of Arches. I cannot count
the crowd that ran about Meed.

But Simony and Civile and sizers of Courts
were most ^miliar with Meed, methought, of any
men ; but Flattery was the first to fetch her from
her bower, and like a broker,^ brought her to be
joined to Falsehood, and when Simony and Civil

' This probably means '* Then make thy complaint against
them."

^ A sistmr was (i) a person deputed to hold assizes ; and (2)
a juror, though not quite in the modem sense. {JSkeatJ)

3 A summoner. An officer who summons delinquents to
appear in an ecclesiastical court ; now called an apparitor.
{Skeat,)

* The original word is fargoeres : " People whose business it
was to go before the great lords in their progresses, and buy up
provisions for them " {Wright ^ quoted by Prof. Skeat).

s Civil =3 A practitioner in the civU law. (Skeat.)

^ Broker is here used in the general sense of a contriver of
bargains, a matchmaker. (Skeat.)

^^r PIERS THE PLOWMAN. ^VH

I saw that this was the will of both they agreed, for
silver, to say according as they wished. Then Liar

' came forth and said, " Lo, here ! A charter that
Guile with his great oaths hath given them both ! "
and he prayed Civil to look and Simony to read it.
Then Simony and Civil both stand forth and un-
fold the deed of gift that Falsehood hath made,
and thus these men proclaim with a loud voice :
" Sciant presenks et fnturi, &c.' Know and
witness, ye that dwell upon this earth, that Meed is
married more for her goods than for any virtue or
beauty, or any noble birth. Falseness is glad of her
for he knoweth her to be rich, and Flattery mth

I his guileful speech granleth them by this charter to
be princes in pride and to despise poverty, to back-
bite and to boast and to bear false witness, to scorn
and to scold and to make slander, and, bold and db-
obedient, to break the ten commandments. And
the Earldom of Envy and Wrath together ; with
the little castle of Strife and C haltering -out-of-
reason ; the County of Covetousness ; and all the
country round, that is, Usury and Avarice, I give
them altogether, in bargains and in treaties, with
the whole borough of Theft ; and all the length
and breadth of the lordship of Lechery, such as
deeds and words and glancing of eyes, raiment and
wishings, and idle thoughts where the will desired
and the doing faileth." Gluttony he gave them
, together with great oaths, and to drink i '
' ICnow, >*e of the pre?"!! nnd fiilurc.

26 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

day at divers taverns, and there to gossip and
gibe and judge their fellow-Christians, and oo
fasting-days to eat before the full time, and thei> to
sit and sup till sleep assail them, till sloth and sleq>
make them * sleek ; and then shall Despair* awaken
them without the will to amend, for they believe
they are lost ; this is their last end.

And he gave them to have and to hold and their
heirs after them, a dwelling with the Devil and be
damned for ever, with all the pains of Purgatory
and the torment of Hell ; paying their souls to
Satan for this thing at one year's end, to suffer
torments with him, and to dwell with him in woe
while Grod is in Heaven.

In witness of which thing Wrong was the first,
and Piers the Pardoner of the Pauline Order,3 Bet
the beadle of Buckinghamshire, Rainald the reeve
of the Soke of Rutland,^ Munde the Miller, and
many others more. "In the date of the Devil
I seal this deed, by the witness of Sir Simony and
by leave of Civil."

Then Theology was vexed when he heard this
tale, and said to Civil, ** Now mayest thou have

' There is an abrupt change here in the pronouns, from the
plural to the singular, which, tor the sake of clearness, I have left
unexpressed in the translation.

' Wanhopt is the fine original woid» t^. uniope.

3 An order of monks or friars, perhaps to be identified with
the " Crutched Friars."

^ The term soken or soke is a law term, meaning (i) a privil^e,
(2) (as here) the district within which such a privil^e or power
-d. {Skeat,)

r

PIERS THE PLOWMAfiT.

1

sorrow for making such weddings to anger Truth ;
and before this wedding be made, Woe betide thee !
Por Meed is a woman begotten of Amends, and God
agreeth to give Meed to Truth and thou hast given
fier to a deceiver. Now God give thee sorrow !
for digntts est uperarius ' to have his hire, and
flou hast joined her to Falsehood. Fie on thy
law I For thou livest wholly by lies and by unclean
Works. Simony and thyself are a shame to Holy
Church, and the notaries and ye vex the people ; ye
shall both pay for it, by God that made me I Full
Well know ye, hars, except your wits fail you, that
J^'alsehood is faithless and treacherous in his doings,
and was a bastard born of the race of Beelzebub.
And Meed is a lady, and a wealthy maiden, and
m^ht kiss the King as cousin, an she would. There-
fore do now according both to wisdom and wit, and
take her to London where the law is declared, and
see if any law will let them join together ; and
though Justices may declare her to be joined with
Falsehood, yet beware of wedding them, for Truth
is wise, and Conscience is of hiscounsel and knoweth
each one of you ; and if he find you faulty and
holding with the false, full bitterly shall it beset
your souls at the last."

Civil assenteth hereto, but Simony would not

until he had silver for his service, as well as the

notaries. Then Flattery brought forth florin s_

enough, and bade Guile give gold all about ant

' \V0nh7 is Ihe labourer.

. M LANGLAND'S VISION Of ^H

especially to the notaries that none might fail them,
and to fee False-witness with florins enough, " That
he may manage Meed and bring about my will."

When this gold was given, great were the thanks
to Falsehood and to Flattery for their fair gifts, and
they came to cheer Falsehood against over-carBf
and said, " Verily, sir, we shall never cease till
Meed through all our wits be thy wedded wife.
For we have managed Meed with our pleasant
speech so that she agreeth with a good will to go
to London, to see if the law will allow you to be
in joy together for ever."

Then was Falseness glad and Flattery also pleased,
and caused all men in the shires round about to be
summoned, and bade them all be ready, beggars
and others, to go with them to Westminster to
witness this matter. But then were they in a strait
for horses to take them thither, and Flattery fetched
forth many foals, and set Meed upon a sheriff all
newly shod, and Falsehood sat on a sizer who
trotted gently, and Flattery on a flatterer who was
finely attired. But when the notaries had no horses
they were vexed, because Simony and Civil must go
on foot. And then Simony and Civil both swore that
summoners should be saddled and serve for each of
them, and they bade apparel the provisors ' like
palfreys. " Sir Simony himself shall sit upon their

PIEKS THE PLOWMAN,

back. Bring together deans and subdeans ; and
let them saddle archdeacons and officials and all
your registrars with silver (that they may allow
our sins, such as adulterj', divorce, and secret
usury), and let them carry bishops about on their
visitations. The trusty friends of the Paulines,
as concerning complaints in the Consistory, shall
serve me who am called Civil ; and harness the
commissary ' and he shall draw our cart. And
make of Liar a long cart to take all these others,
such as friars and vagabonds who run on foot."

And thus went forth Falsehood and Flattery
together, and Meed between them, and all these
men after. I cannot stay to tell of the train of
adl manner of men that follow them, but Guile
WBS^their guide and led them all.

Truth saw them full well and said but little, and
spurred his palfrey and passed them all ; he cante
to the King's court and told it to Conscience, and
Conscience afterwards told it again to the King.

"Now, by Christ," said the King, " if I could
catch Falsehood or Flattery, or any of his fellows, I
would be avenged on those wretches that do so
ill, and have them hanged by the neck, and all
that abet them. No man on earth shall go bail f or
the least of them, but right as the law will find,J|
let it fall on them all."

' " An officer of the bishop, who eicrciaes spiritual juri . .^^^
lioo in places of the diocese so &r di^tatii fiom the episcopal see,
that the chancellor cannot coll I he people to Ihe bishop's conds-
loiyctjort, without pulling them to inconvenience "(/w/i. Did.,
, jguolcd by Piofessoi Skest).

30 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

And he commanded a constable to come straight-
way, and " Arrest those oppressors at any cost, I
bid you ; and fetter Falseness fast, in spite of any
gifts, and cut off Guile's head, and let him go no
Rirther. And if ye catch Liar, let him not escape
for any prayer, I command you, till he be put in
the pillory ; and bring Meed to me in spite of them
all."

Dread stood at the door and heard the judgment,
and how the King commanded constables and
servants to fetter and bind Falseness and his com-
pany. Then Dread went quickly and warned False-
hood, and bade him and all his fellows flee for fear.
Falseness for fear then fled to the friars ; and Guile
was almost affrighted to death, but merchants met
with him and made him stay with them, and shut
him up in their shops to show their wares, and
apparelled him like a prentice to serve the people.

Then Liar ran quickly away, and lurked in the
lanes, and was pulled hither and thither by many
a one. Because of his mai^ lies he was nowhere
welcome, but everjnvhere he was hooted at and
bidden pack off, until the pardoners had pity on
him and pulled him indoors. They washed him
and wiped him, and clothed him in old raiment,
and sent him with seals to churches on Sunday,
and he gave pardons for pence everywhere, by
pounds at a time. Then the leeches began to lour,
and sent letters for Liar to dwell with them. Sellers
oi spices spoke with him to look at their wares, for he

PIERS THE PLOWMAN, 31

ifc understood their trade and knew many spices. But

N minstrels and messengers once met him, and kept

\ him half a year and eleven days ; and then friars

' with fair speech brought him thence, and clothed

him as a friar, that -strangers might not know him ;

but he hath leave to go out as oft as pleaseth him,

I and when he will stay is welcome, and he dwelleth

^' often with them.^

All fled away for fear and escaped into corners,
save Meed the Maid none others durst abide. But
to tell truly, she was trembling for fear, and she
wept also and wrung her hands when she was
taken.

\

' The C-text adds : — ** Simony and Civil sent to Rome, and
by appeeds put themselves in the Pope's favour. But Conscience
accused them both to the King, and said : ' By Christ, Sir King,
except these derks amend, thy kingdom will grow evil through
their avarice, and Holy Church through them be injured for

ever.

4

r^'m

PASsus m. ij

■jflS

Meed is brought to tJu Kin^ s presence^ who bids that she kwH
lodged— The Just ices a nd others visit her — She is shmm-
The King proposesTKat she shall many ConsHenc^-^On^
science refuses^ and exposes her — She retaliates aM C0M-
science refutes her.

Now with beadles and bailiffs Meed the Maid, and \\
none other of them all, is brought before the King, i
And the King called a clerk, whose name I know \
not, to take Meed the Maid and see to her welfare. J

" I will try her myself, and truly question her, ^
What man on earth might be dearest to her ; and
if she do after my counsel and follow my will, 1
will forgive her this guilt, so God help me."

Then the clerk did as the King bade, and took
Meed courteously by the waist and brought her to
a chamber, and there was mirth and minstrelsy to -
please Meed. They that dwell in Westminster all
honoured her ; and some of the Justices, by the
leave of Learning, went gladly and graciously to the
chamber where the lady dwelled, that they might
comfort her kindly, and said :

" Mourn not. Meed, nor be sorrowful, for we will
counsel the King, and make a way for thee that thou

mayst be wedded at thy will and where it pleaseth

32

FfERS THE PLOWMAfT. 33

•■, notwithstanding all device or craft of Con-
, as I trow ! "

Then Meed thanked them all humbly for their
Sreat goodness, and gave to each of them goblets of
pure gold, and cups of silver, and rings with rubies,
5nd many other rich things ; and she gave the least
man of their train a coin ' of gold ; and then these
lords took their leave of Meed.

With that there came clerks likewise to comfort
her ; and they bade her be blithe, " For we are
thine own to do thy will while thou livest." Then,
graciously she promised them also to " Love you
faithfully and to make you lords, and in the Con-
sistory at the Court to get your names called, and
no ignorance shall hinder the man that I love,
that he be not advanced to the first place, for I
am acknowledged where clever clerks shall lag
behind ! "

Then there came a confessor clothed as a friar,
to Meed the Maid he spoke these words, and said
full softly, as it were in confession :

" Though Falseness had followed thee all these
fifty winters, I will absolve thee myself for a .
horse-load of wheat, and be also thy beadsman,'
and bear well thy message to knights and clerks
that Conscience may be turned."

Then for her misdeeds Meed kneeled to that

■ Lit. a molauH of gold, so called from its bearing the iSB\
lion o( a lanii or muttoit upon one side of it. {Skeet.)

■ One who prays foi another for money.

34 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

man, and I trow she shrived her shamelessly of her
wickedness, and told him a lying tale, and gave
him a noble that he might be her beadsman and
her broker also. Then he soon absolved her, and
said afterwards :

"We have a window a-making which will cost
us full much, wouldst thou glaze that gable ' and
grave thy name thejfiin, thy soul would be sure to
enter heaven."

■ " If I knew that," said the woman, " I would not
spare to be your friend, friar, and never to fail you.
I will roof your church and build your clois-
ters, whiten your walls and glaze your windows,
and paint and pourtray and pay for the work,
so every one shall say I am a sister' of your

ouse."

But 3 God forbiddeth all good people such
engraving, that they should write their good deeds
in windows, lest pride aiid pomp of the world be
painted there. For Christ knoweth thy conscience
ind thine inmost will, and thy spending and thy
covetousness, and who really owned the wealth.
Therefore I counsel you, lords, leave such doings,
that ye write your good deeds in windows or call
out for God's men ^ when ye give alms, lest ye have

■ (table-end of a church.

* The word sister has a direct allusion to the letters of
fratcrnityi t^ means of which any wealthy person could belong
to * religious order of the mendicant friars. {Skeat. )

• •— - nassaee is of course the author's own reflection on the

iction.
send for the fTi&rs.

PIEXS THE PLOWMAN.

Nes^^y

r

^^Bbt reward here and your heaven also. Nesdai \
^^Kbistra quid faciat dexira.' Let not thy left side
^^Bow, neither late nor early, what thou doest with |
^^tty right side, for thus the gospel biddeth that good I
men should do their alms. " "Mayors and officers •
are the means between the King and the Commons I
to guard the laws, and to punish in pillories and on
stools of pomshment, brewers and bakers, butchere 1
and cooks ; for these are the men on earth that do 1
most harm to the pK>or people who buy in small
portions. For they often poison the people privily,
and they grow rich through their small trade,^ and
get money for themselves by what the poor people
should fill their belly with ; for be ye foil certain,
had they made their wealth in honesty they had
not built such high houses nor bought such tene-
ments for themselves.*

But Meed the Maid hath besought the Mayor to
take from all such sellers silver, or presents without
pence, whether pieces of silver, rings, or other
riches, to maintain these dealers. " For my love,"
said the lady, " love each of them, and suffer
them to sell somewhat against reason."

Solomon the Wise made a sermon for amend-
ment of mayors and men who guard the laws, and
told them this matter that I think to tell ; Ignis
devorabit tahtrnacula eortim qui Uhenter accipiunt

I

Let not your left hu)d know what your right huid doeth.
lit. mact-tearers, i-t.., officers of the courts of justice.
J^., retail trade.
~ Appendix, p. 115, for the additional lines of C.

36 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

munera^ &c^ Among learned men this Latin
meaneth that fire shall fall, and bum all to blue
ashes the houses and the homes of them that desire
gifts or year-gifts' because of their office.

Now the King came from his council and called
for Meed, and sent for her very quickly with
many officers, who brought her to the chamber
joyfully.

Then the King spoke courteously to Meed the
Maid, and said these words :

" Woman, unwisely thou hast often done, but
worse didst thou never than when thou tookest
Falsehood. But I forgive thee that guilt and grant
thee my favour ; henceforth, to thy day of death,
do so no more.3 I have a knight. Conscience, who
hath lately come from afar ; ^ if he desire thee to
wife, wilt thou have him ? "

" Yea, lord,- * said the lady. " Lord forbid other-
wise ; except I be wholly at your bidding, bid hang
me soon ! "

And then Conscience was called to come and
appear before the King and his Council. Conscience

' Fire shall devour the tabernacles of those who have willingly
received gifts (bribery).

7* A year-^ifi is a toll or fine taken by the King's officers on a
person s entering an office, and is really a bribe given to them to
connive at extortion or other offences in him who gives it. (Skeat,)

3 C. adds : *' If thou be again taken in offence I will shut
thee up as if thou wert an anchorite, in the Castle of Corfe
or a much worse dwelling, and mar thee with torture, by
St. Mary, so that all wanton women shall beware because of
>bee."

Lit., '' beyond."

^^^ PIEXS THE PLOWMAN. ^^^^

made obeisance to the King, and kneeled, that he
might know what his will was, and what he should
do.

"Wilt thou wed this woman," said the King,
" if I will assent, for she is eager for thy fellowship,
to be thy mate ? "

Said Conscience to the King, " Christ forbid it
me ! Ere I wed such a wife, woe betide me ! For
her faith is frail and her speech fickle, and she
maketh men do wrong many a score of limes.
Trust in her treasure doth betray full many. She
teachelh wantonness to wives and widows, and
lechery to them who love her gifts ; she made your
father fall through false promises, and she hath
poisoned popes and injured Holy Church. Slzers
and summoners are the men who praise her, and if
she were not, the sheriffs of shires were undone. For
she maketh men lose both their land and life, and
she leCteth prisoners go and often payeth for them,
and giveth the jailors both gold and groats, if they
will unfetter the wicked to flee where it pleaseth
him ; and she taketh the true man by the hair and
tieth him fast, and for hatred doth hang him who
never did harm. She careth not a rush to be
cursed in court, for she doth clothe the commissary
and his clerks ; she is absolved as soon as it pleaseth
her, and can do nigh as much in one single month
as your private seal in six score days. For she is
familiar with the Pope, as provisors know, for Sir
Simony and herself seal their bulls. She blesseth

3$ - LANGLANiyS VISION OF

the bishops though they be ignorant, provideth
parsons with prebends, and abetteth priests in
having lovers and concubines all their da3rs, and
in bringing forth children against the law's com-
mand. Where she is well with the King woe is the
kingdom, for she favoureth Falsehood and often
revileth Truth. By Jesus ! with her jewels she
corrupteth your Justices and lieth against the law,
; and stoppeth up the way so that Loyalty cannot go
I forward, because her florins ate so thick. She con-
ducteth the law as she listeth and maketh love-days,'
and^usetb i^^n to lose through her love what law
could win ; it is confusion for a poor man though
he plead for ever here. Law is so lordly and loath
to make an end : without presents or pence she
pleaseth very few.

" She bringeth barons and burgesses into sorrow,
and all the commons who wish to live honestly
into trouble ; she \coupleth together learning and
avarice. This is the life of that lady! Now the
Lord give her sorrow ! And all that help her ser-
vants, ill-luck betide them ! For poor men, though
they suffer, have no power to complain. Meed is
such a master among men of wealth."
Then Meed bemoaned, and complained to the

' Love-day, '' commonly meant a law-day, a day set apart

for a leet or manorial court, a day of final concord and

r4c'**tf»li^ion" (quoted by Prof. Skeat, from Timb's "Nooks

! of English Life"). But it is cl^r that on such

ch injustice was frequently done to the poor.

PIESS THE PLOWMAN.

King, and prayed to have space to speak, if she
might so speed.

The King with a good will granted her grace :
''Excuse thee, if thou canst, I can say no more,
for Conscience accuseth thee to rid himself of thee
for ever."

" Nay, lord," the lady said, " trust him the less
when ye know indeed where the wrong lieth.
Meed can help where is great misfortune. And
thou knowest, Conscience, I have come not to
strive, nor with a proud heart to revile thy person.
Well thou dost know, deceiver, except thou mit lie,
that thou hast hung on my side eleven times, and
seized also my gold and given it where thou hast
pleased ; and why thou art angry now is a wonder to
me. According to my power I may still honour thee
with gifts, and uphold thy manhood more than thou
knowest. But thou hast foully defamed me here
before the King, for I never killed any king, nor
counselled it, nor did as thou deemest. I call the
King to witness I '

" In Normandy for my sake he was not harmed
but thou thyself truly often shamedst him ; thou d'

1 in Normandy and t(
treaty of Bretigny, signed May 8, 1360. Edwatd there re-
iionnc«d bis cloini to the crown ot France and the greater part
of his lo-called possessions in that country. He abo rditored
all his conquests except Calais and Guisnes. The Donphl^o^^
Fntnee promised to pay a ransom of three million ct - '
for the ransom of his tilhet. King John.

"ThcBuftetinEsot the EnElisn in their previous retreat I

4% LANGLANjyS VISION OF

creep into a cabin against the cold in thy nails, and
didst think that winter would have lasted for ever,
and didst dread thou wouldst die for a dim cloud,
and didst hie homeward for thy belly's hunger.
Without pity, thief, thou didst rob poor men and
bore their brass on thy back to sell at Calais. I
stayed here with my lord to save his life ; I made
his men merry and stopped their mourning and
' patted them on their back and emboldened their
hearts, and made them dance for hope that they
might have me. Had I been marshal of his men,
by Mary of Heaven, I durst have laid my life, and
no less a pledge, he should have been lord of that
land in length and breadth, and also king of that
country and of power to help his kin, — the least
child of his blood a baron's peer ! But thou. Con-
science, cowardlike, didst counsel him to go hence,
and for a little silver to leave his lordship, which
is the richest realm whereon the rain falleth.

" It becometh a king who doth care for a king-
dom to give Meed to men who serve him humbly,
and to honour aliens and all men with gifts. Meed
maketh him beloved and held as a man. Emperors
and earls, and every kind of lord, have young men
to run and ride, because of gifts ; the Pope and

Paris to Bretagne were very great, and they encountered a most
dreadful tempest near Chartres, with violent wind and heavy
hail. Hence the allusions in the text to the lengthening out of
winter till May, to the dim cloud, and to the famine from which
the army suffered. Meed suggests that instead of exacting
money, Edward should have foregone it, or even have paid
c - -lecure to himself the kingdom of France." (Skeat,)

FIERS TBE PLOfVMAN.

h meed

all prelates radve presents, and themselves
men to maintain their laws. We see full truly
servants for their service take Meed from their
master, according as they may agree ; beggars in
their begging ask Meed of men ; minstrels for thdr
mirth ask Meed ; the King to keep peace in the
land hath Meed Irom his men ; men that teach
children crave Meed for them ; priests that preach
to the people for good, ask Meed, or pence for
masses, and their meat at meal-times ; craftsmen
of every kind crave Meed for their prentices ;
merchants and Meed must needs go together ; no
creature can live without Meed, T ween,' "

The King said to Conscience, "By Christ, me-

thinketh Meed is well worthy to have the mastery."'

"Nay," said Conscience to the King, and kneeled

on the earth, "there are two kinds of Meed, my

lord, by your leave. The one, God of His grace

granteth in His bliss to those that do well while they

are here. The prophet preacheth thereof and putteth

it in the Psalter ; Dainine, quis habitabit in laber-

ttaculo tun ? " ' Lord, who shall dwell in thy habi-

I tstions and with thy holy saints, or rest in thy

I holy hills?' David asketh this; and explaineth

' It himself, as the Psalter saith ; Qui ingreditiir sine

macula, ei opcratur justiciam,^ Those that enter are

spotless ■* and of one will, and have wrought works of

I ' Se« Appendix, p. 117, for additional lines in C. ^^^^J

' Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle ? ^^^^^|

1 ■ Whoso enlerE williout spot and works justice. ^^^^^H

I • Li(.,"'jfonecoloui." ^^^H

■ M

42 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

right and reason ; and he that foUoweth not the lite
of usury, and teacheth poor men and pursueth truth ;
quipecuntam suam non dedit ad usuram^ et tnunera
super innocentem^ &c., and all that help the inno*
cent and hold with the righteous, and do them good
without Meed and help the truth, — such kind of
men, my lord, shall have from God this first Meed
at their great need when they go hence.

"There is another unrighteous * Meed that masters
desire ; they take Meed to abet misdoers ; and thereof
the Psalter says at the end of a psalm. In quorum
manihus iniquitates sunt, dextera eorum repleta est
munertbuSf^ and he that graspeth at her gold, so
God help me, shall pay for it bitterly, or the Book
lieth. Priests and parsons that desire pleasure
and take Meed and money for the masses they sing,
have their Meed here, as Matthew teacheth us ;
Ameftj amen, receperunt mercedem suamA What
labourers and humble folk receive from their
masters is no kind of Meed but a rightful hire.
(tin trading there is no Meed, I can well avow ; it is
J I plainly an exchange, one pennyworth for another.
''But thou, recreant Meed, didst thou never read
Regum s why the vengeance fell on Saul and on his
children ? God sent to Saul by Samuel the prophet

' Whoso hath not given his money to the usurer and received
gifts against the innocent.

' Lit., "measureless."

3 In >vhose hands are iniquities, whose right hand is full of
gifts.

* Verily, verily, they have received their reward.

s (The Book) of Kings.

^^F P/ERS THE PLOWMAN. ^^^

that Agag of Aaialek and all his people must die for
ft deed their fathers had done. ' Therefore,' Samuel
said to Saul, 'God himself commandeth thee be
obedient to His bidding and fulfil His will. Go to
Amaiek with thine host, and whatsoever thou findest
there, slay it ; burn to death men and beasts, widows
and wives, women and children, goods of every
kind ; ' and all that thou canst find, burn it, bear
it not away for Meed nor money, though it be
never so rich ; see thou destroy it, kill and spare
uot, and thou shalt speed the better.' And because
he coveted their cattle, and spared the king, and
forbore to kill both him and his beasts, otherwise
than he was warned of the prophet, as the Bible
witnesseth, God said to Samuel that Saul should
die, and for that sin all his seed come to a shameful
end. Such ruin Meed made Saul the King to have,
so that God hated him and all his heirs for ever
after. The culorum ' of this matter I care not to
show ; in case it should vex men I will make no
end. For it is ever the way with them that have
power, that whosoever saith the truth to them is
soonest blamed. — .

"I, Conscience, know this, for Mother -wit taught J
me it, that Reason shall reign and govern king-
doms ; and just as to Agag it happened so it shall
to some others. Samuel shall slay him and Saul

■ Lit., ■' moveablea and unmoveables."
' Conclusion. Evidently a corruption of saaiihrHm. the ll
word of (he Gloria Pain. (Skeai. )

44 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

shall be blamed and David shall be crowned and
subdue them all ; and one Christian king shall
rule them all. Meed shall no more be master, as
she is now, but Love and Lowliness and Loyalty
shall together be masters on earth to save Truth.
And whosoever trespasseth against Truth or goeth
against his will, Loyalty shall give him law and no
man else. No serjeant shall wear a silk hood for
his service, nor fur on his cloak for pleading at
the bar. Meed maketh of evil-doers many lords,
and ruleth the kingdoms more than the King's
laws.

" But Love ^ and Conscience shall come together,
and make a labourer of Law ; for such love shall
arise, and such peace among the people, and such
perfect truth, that the Jews shall wax wondrous
glad, and think in their minds that Moses or Messiah
be come to the earth, and shall wonder in their
hearts that men be so true.

" All who bear a baselard,* broad sword or lance,
or an axe or a hatchet or any other weapon, shall
be doomed to death save he cause it to be smithied
into a sickle or a scythe or a ploughshare or a
coulter ; conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres^^ &c. ;
and every man shall busy himself with a plough, or
with pickaxe or spade, shall spin or spread dung or

^ The original word here is kynde love^ ue,y lit. natural or
human love.

^ A special kind of sword.

^ They shall melt their swords into ploughshares.

PIE/tS THE PLOWMAN.

else must he waste himself in sloth. Priests and par-
sons shalljhunt with placebo ' or ding upon David '
every day till evening, and if any of them shall hunt L
or hawk, the benefice that was his boast shall then
be taken from him. Neither king nor knight, con-
Stable nor mayor, shall override the commons, nor
summon them to the Court, nor empanel them J to
make them pledge their truth, hut judgment shall
be given according to the deed that is done, pardon
or no pardon as Truth will agree. King's Court
>nd Common Court, Consistory and Chapter, all
shall be but one court and one baron be Justice ;
and then True-tongue shall live, a careful man who
never vexed me. No battles shall there be, nor
shall any man bear weapon, and if any smith shall
smithy a weapon he shall be therewith smitten to
desth. Non hvabit gens contra gentem gladium,*
&c. But ere this good fortune come to pass men
shall feel the worst, by six suns and a ship and half
a sheaf of arrows ; and the middle of a moon shall
convert the Jews, and Saracens shall sing Gloria in
excelsis^ because of that sight, for ill hap at that

■ IiI.,"Ivfill please," or "find favour with." The opening
phrase of Psa. am. q. To hunt with pIacibB = \.o be dili-
gent in dnging ftactbv. i.c., in sapng the office for the dead.
XSkcal.)

' Dyngtn Hpeit David, i.e. , lo practise singing the Psalms.
' Lit., "pm them on a. panel." " The panne/ of a jury is the
n which the names of the furors are wf itlen "
■ - "■ -lal).

sword against nation.

46 LANGLANL^S VISION OF

time shall be&ll Mahomet and Meed.' For, melius
est bonum nomen quam diuicte multeP '

Then Meed waxed as wroth as the wind, " I can
no Latin," said she, " clerks know the truth. See
what Solomon saith in the Books of Wisdom, that
they who give gifts win the victory, and he had
much worship for it as Holy Writ telleth. Honorem,
adquiret gut dat munera^ &c.3 "

" I believe, indeed, lady," said Conscience, " that
thy Latin is true ; but thou art like a lady who
read a lesson once, and it was omnia prohate^^ and
that pleased her heart, for no more was there of that
line at the leaf's end. If she had looked the other
side, and turned the leaf, she would have found
many words following thereon, quod bonum est
tenete,^ Truth made that text. And so did ye
fare. Madam ! Ye could find no more though ye
looked on Wisdom when ye sat in study. This text
that ye have said, would be good for lords, but
a clever clerk ye needed, to have turned the leaf !
And if ye look at Wisdom again ye shall find
what foUoweth, a full harmful text to them who

' The whole of this passage is a fanciftil prophecy which hints
at a final time when Jews and Mahometans shall be converted.
Professor Skeat thus explains it : *' The Paschal full moon
(with the events of the crucifixion) shall cause the Jews to be
converted to Christianity ; and next, at the sight of their con-
version, Saracens also shall declare their belief in the Holy
Ghost ; for both Mohammed and Meed shall then meet with
11 -success."

* Better is a good name than much riches.

3 He shall win honour who giveth g^ts.

^ Prove all things. ^ HoVS iasV ^mX ^\im^\& ^ood.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN, 47

take Meed, and that is Animam autem auferi \
acctpientium^^ &c., and that is the end of that text \
that ye before showed, — that though with Meed we
may win worship and victory, the soul that taketh
the gift just so far is it bound." *

' For he wins the soul (good will) of the receivers (of gifts).
' Le,y t}ie man who takes the gift is to that extent under an
obligation.

PASSUS IV.

The King orders Reason to be sent for — He comes with Wit and
Wisdom — The petition of Peace against Wrong, who tries to
duy off Peace with MeecCs help — Reason is relentless and
counsels the King to act with justice — TTte King agrees, and
asks Reason to stay with him for ever,

" Cease," the King said, " I will no longer suffer
you ; ye shall be reconciled, forsooth, and both serve
me. Kiss her. Conscience, I bid you," said the
King.

" Nay," said Conscience, "by Christ, dismiss me
for ever I Save Reason counsel me thereto, rather
will I die ! "

Then the King said to Conscience, " I command
thee hasten to ride and fetch Reason ; command
him that he come to hear my counsel, for he shall
rule my kingdom and advise me for the best, and
shall reckon with thee, Conscience, how thou dost
teach the people, both learned and unlearned — so
Christ help me ! "

" I am glad of that promise," the man said, and

he rideth straight to Reason and whispereth in his

48

PIEKS THE PLOWMAN.
ear, and said as the King bade, and then took Ms

" Tarry thou awhile," said Reason, " I will make

me ready to ride ;'' and he called Cato his servant

who was courteous of speech, and also Tom-true-

tongue -tell -me- no-tales- nor- idle-stories -to -la ugh - at-

for-I-Ioved-them -never. And saddle me Suffer-

till-I-see-my-time, and gird him well with the

girths of Wise-word, and hang upon him the

heavy bridle to keep his head low, for he will

neigh twice ' ere he be there."

^^_. Then Conscience goeth forward fast upon his

^^^kse, and Reason rideth with him, and they talk

^^Hfedier of all the tyrannies Meed causeth upon the

H^l^. One Waryn Wisdom and his companion

' Witty' followed fast upon them, for they had

business in hand in the Exchequer and in

Chancery ; and they rode fast that Reason might

advise them the best, and, for silver, save them

from shame and trouble. And Conscience knew

well that they loved Covetousness, and he bade

Reason ride fast and reck of neither of them,

" There are wiles in their words and they dwell with

Meed, and where wrath and wrangling are there

th^ win silver, but where are love and loj-alty they

will not come. Contn'cio et infelicitas in vijs

eornm.fi &c. They care not one goose wtng for

• I.t., be impBlient.

' WiHy = clever ot crafty.

' Sorrow »nd unhappiness arc in th

50 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

God, non est itmor dtt ante oculos eorumJ For
God knoweth they would do more for a dozen
chickens, or as many capons, or for a horse-load of
oats, than for love of our Lord or of all His dear
saints. Therefore, Reason, let those rich folk ride
alone, for neither Conscience nor Christ knoweth
them, as I trow.*' So then Reason rode fast on the
straight highway, as Conscience showed him, till
they came to the King.

Then the King came courteously to meet Reason,
and set him on the bench between him and his
son, and they talked together very wisely a great
while.

And then Peace came into Parliament and put
forth a petition, how that Wrong had taken his
wife against his will. " His fellows steal both my
geese and my pigs, and for fear of him I dare not
fight nor complain." He borrowed a horse of me
and he never brought him home, nor any farthing
for him, for aught I can plead. He abetteth his
men in murdering my servants, he forestalleth my
sales 3 at fairs, and wrangleth in my market, and
breaketh away my barn door and beareth off my
wheat, and giveth]]me nothing but a tally* for ten

' The fear of God is not before their eyes.

° C. adds : '* In ^th, because of his men I dare not bear any
silver in safety lo St. Giles* Down. Full well he watcheth when
I take silver, and right eagerly he espieth which way I go, that
he may rob and rifle me if I nde softly.'*

3 To forestall^ was to buy up goods before they had been
exposed in the market. It was strictly discouraged. {Skeat.)

* The tally was a wooden stick, one of a pair that taUied^ with
itches in it to indicate the svim Veivl or owmg.

w

FIEKS THE PLOWMAN.

quarters of oats, and he beateth me also and Heth by
my maid, I hardly dare look about me because of
him."

The King knew he said the truth, for Conscience
told him that Wrong was a wicked fellow and
wrought much sorrow. Then Wrong was afraid,
and he sought Wisdom that with his pence he
might make peace, and offered him much pence
and said, " If I had the favour of my Lord the King
little would I reck, though Peace and all his power
complained to him for ever."

Then Wisdom and Sir Waryn the Witty, because
Wrong had wrought so wicked a deed, went and
warned Wrong with this wise talk : " Whoso
worketh after his own will often causeth wrath. I
say it concerning thyself, thou shalt indeed find it
so. Except Meed manage it thy misfortune is
aloft, for in his favour lie both thy life and thy land."

Then Wrong wooed Wisdom very eagerly, and
that he might make peace with his pence paid
handy dandy ; ' and then Wisdom and Wit went
together, and took Meed with them, to get pardon
for Wrong,

Peace came forth with a bloody pate. " With-
out guilt, God wot, gat I this hurt. Conscience and
the Commons know the truth."

But Wisdom and Wit wrought diligently to over-
come the King with money, if ihey could.

Sa LANGLANiyS VISION OF

The King swore both by Christ and His crown
that Wrong should suffer punishment for his deeds,
and commanded a constable to put him in irons,
" And let him not see his feet once these seven
years."

"God wot," said Wisdom, "that were not the
best. If he can make amends let Bail have him ;
and be surety for his wrong, and buy him a remedy,
and so amend what is ill-done, and be the better
evermore."

Wit agreed thereto and said the same. "Better
is it for Redress' to overcome Wrong,* than for
Wrong to be beaten and Redress be none the
better off."

Then Meed bemoaned and besought for mercy,
and offered Peace a present of pure gold. " Take
this, man, from me," she said, " to amend thine
hurt, for I will be surety for Wrong he will do so
no more."

Then Peace piteously besought the King to have
mercy on the man who so often had wrought him
ill, " For he hath given me good surety as Wisdom
hath taught him, and with a good will I forgive
him that guilt, and if the King assent I cannot say
further ; for Meed hath made me amends, I can
ask no more."

"Nay," said the King then, " so Christ help me,
Wrong goeth not thus away, I will first know

' Lit., boot or remedy.
^ lit.) bale 01 evil.

PJEKS THE PLOWMAN.

^

more ; for he would laugh if he should escape so
easily, and be afterwards the bolder to beat my
servants ; except Reason have pity on him he shall
stay in my stocks, and that as long as he liveth,
except Humility be his surety."

Certain men then advised Reason to have pity
on that shrew, and also to counsel thus the King
and Conscience, and they besought Reason that
Meed might be bail.

" Counsel me not to have pity," said Reason,
"Till lords and ladies all love truth, and all hate
harlotry, either to hear or speak it, and till Pernel'a'
fiaery be put in her box, and the cherishing ' of
children become chastisement with rods, and har-
lots' holiness be held worth a hind. 3 Till clerks
be covetous to clothe and feed the poor, and
roaming monks < say recordare^ in their cloisters
as St. Benedict, Bernard, and Francis commanded ;
and till preachers' preaching be proved on them-
selves ; till the King's counsel be the common
profit ; till bishops' horses become beggars' cham-
bers,* and their hawks and their hounds help the

' A prov<^rbIal name for a gaily dicaied, bold-faced woman.
{Skial. ) " 1.1, , over indulgence or spoiling.

^ I.e., of small value, of common occurrence. A hind or
farm -labourer was not of great value. Harlot in M. Eng. is
applied liolh lo men and wooien ; and is often used in the sense
of ribald, rather than in its modem meaning.

' I^t., any one of a religious order.

s " Remember " ; the tirst word of a Mass for avoiding sudden
death.

' 1. 1., Till ihe money spent by bishops on horses go lo
lumish rooms for be^ais.

54 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

poor Orders ; and till St. James be sought where
I shall show ' so that no man go to Galicia except
he go for ever ; and until all runners to Rome
bear across the sea no silver that has upon it the
King's image, to enrich robbers who dwell yonder ;
neither gold nor silver graven nor ungraven, on
pain of forfeiture if any man find him at Dover^
except it be a merchant or his man, or a messenger
with letters, or a provisor or a priest, or a penitent
for his sins.

" And still," said Reason, " by the Rood, I will
have no pity while Meed hath the mastery in this
judgment hall ; but I can point out examples as
at times I see them. As for myself," he said, " ii
so it were that I were a crowned king to guard a
realm, never should wrong in this world, that I
could know, be unpunished as far as in me lay, for
my souPs peril ! Nor my favour got by gifts, so
God save me, nor pardon be had for Meed except
through Humility. For the man nullum malum
met with tnpunttum^ and bade nullum bonum be
irremuneratum,^ Let your confessor, Sir King,
explain this without help of gloss ; 3 and if ye fulfil
it in deeds, I pledge mine ears that Law shall be a
labourer and carry dung a-field, and Love shall rule
thy land as shall please thee best."

^ The C-text has, ** Till St. James be sought where the poor
sick lie, in prisons and poor cots, instead of pilgrimage to Rome."

* The man named No Evil met with one called Unpunishedy
ade No Good be unrewarded. This is a fantastic way of
idxig the words in italics. 3 Commentaiy.

Tl

PIEKS THE FLOit^MAtr. 4^^^

Then clerks who were confessors joined together
to interpret this clause, and for the King's profit,
but not for the Commons' comfort nor for the
.King's soul. For in the judgment hall, I saw
Meed wink upon the men of law, and they went
to her laughing, and many left Reason,

Waryn Wisdom winked at Meed and said,
"Madam, I am your man, whatsoever my mouth
may prate about ; I light upon florins," said he,
" and often then speech faileth me."

All the just then declared that Reason said
truth, and Wit agreed thereto and commended
his words, and so did most in the hall, and many
of the great ones, and they held Meekness as a
master and Meed a cursed shrew. Love held
her lightly and Loyalty thought stilt less of her,
and proclaimed it so loudly that all the hall heard
it. " Whosoever for the wealth of her goods
desireth her to wife, except he be known fc
cuckold cut off my nose I "

Then Meed bemoaned and made heavy ch(
because the lowest in the court called her a wh(
But a sizer and a summoner quickly followed her,
and a sheriffs clerk cursed all the rout. " For
often," said he, "I have helped you at the Bar, and
yet ye never gave me the worth of a rush."

And the King called Conscience, and then Reason,
and declared that Reason had spoken rightly
the King looked angrily and haughtily upon Mi
and waxed wroth with Law because Meed

leard |

[oods J

m

56 LANGLANiys VISION.

almost ruined it, and said, '^ Through your law, so
I believe, I lose many ^cheats ; ' Meed overcometh
Law and doth hinder Truth greatly. But Reason
shall reckon with you, if I reign any time ; and,
even as to-day, he shall judge you as ye have de-
served. Meed shall not bail you, by the Mary of
Heaven ! I will have lo}^ty in Law and stop all
your idle talk, and as most men witness plainly so
shall Wrong be judged."

Said Conscience to the King, "Except the
Commons will agree, it is full hard, by my head,
to bring this about, and thus to rule your liege
people fairly."

'^ By Him who hung upon the Rood," said Reason
to the King, ^^^-except I rule your realm thus, tear
me to pieces ! if ye but command Obedience to be
with me."

" And I agree," said the King, " by St. Mary my
Lady, when my council of clerks and earls is come ;
but thou shalt not go from me readily. Reason, for
as long as I live I will never hinder thee."

" I am ready to abide for ever with you," said
Reason, ^' so long as Conscience be of our council, I
care for nothing better."

** And I grant it," said the King ; " God forbid it
should fail ; as long as our life doth last let us live
together ! " «

* Property reverting to the King.

° See Appendix pp. 1 18-123, for the C. passages Which now
follow*

Thi Drtamtr aviates, but tletfis again — He sees tin Field and
Season preaching — Reasoiis sermon— The con/essien of ike
Seven Deadly Sins, and tht refenlauce af Robert the Robber-
Repentance prays far all of Ihtm — They all set out to find
Truth, iiui none iHow the way — Fieri the Plowman says ie
will show Ihtm, and describes the way.

The King and his knights went to church to hear
the Matins of the day, and afterwards the Mass.
Then I awoke from my sleep, and was withal
sorrowful that I had not slept more soundly and
seen more. But before I had gone a furlong faintness
seized ime, so that I might not go a foot further
for sleep j and I sat softly down and said my
Belief, and as I babbled on my beads they sent me
to sleep.

And then saw I much more than I have told
before, for I saw the field full of folk that I before
spoke of, and how Reason got himself ready to
preach to all the realm, and with a cross began his
sermon thus before the King : —

He proved that tlie pestilences were for sin alone,
and also the south-west wind on Saturday at
evening was plainly for pride alone, and nothing
else. Pear trees and plum trees were blown to the

58 LANGLANEtS VISION OF

earthy for warning, ye should do better, ye men.
Beeches and broad oaks were blown to the ground,
and their roots tamed upwards, in token of fear
that deadly sin at Doomsday shall destroy them
aU.

Of this matter I might mumble on full lengthily,
but I will say as I saw, so God help me, how
plainly Reaso p preached before the people. He
bade the waster go do what he best could, and
earn his wasting by some kind of craft And he
prayed Pemel to let be her finery, and keep it in
her box for her use in need. Tom Stowe he told to
take two staves, and fetch Felice home from the
women's punishment.* He warned Wat that his
wife was blameworthy, and that her head was
worth half a mark and his hood not worth a groat.
And he bade Bet cut a bough or two, and beat
Beton therewith, unless she would work. And then
he charged chapmen to chasten their children,
" And let no indulgence spoil them while they are
young, nor even for any attack of pestilence
please them out of reason. My father said. to me,
and so did my mother, that ^to the dearer child
the more teaching is needful.' And Solomon who
wrote Wisdom said the same, Qutparctt virge^ odit

' A difficult passage, explained in various ways, but ProC
Skeat*s opinion is as follows : — ** I suppose the sentence to mean
that Tom Stowe, who had neglected his wife and let her get into
bad ways, or who had allowed her to be punished as a scold, had
much better fetch her home than leave her exposed to public
derision. Such an errand would require a strong arm, and two
would be very useful in dispersing the crowd."

FIEHS THE PLOWMAN.

1

will

It <^H

fiiiitm. The English of this Latin — if any will
know it — is, ' Whoso spareth the rod spoileth hi»
children.'"

And next hn besought both prelates and pries
" What ye preach to the people prove it
yourselves, and do it in deeds, and it shall brin^
good to you ; for if ye live as ye teach us we shall
believe you the better."

And then he counselled the Orders of religion to
keep their rule, " Lest the King and his council
lessen your allowance, and become stewards of your
houses till ye be ordered better," ' And afterwards
he counselled the King to love the Commons " They
are thy treasure, if treason should be ; and thy
remedy in need." And then he prayed the Pope
to have pity on Holy Church, and ere he give any
grace let him first govern himself. " And ye ihat
have laws to guard let Truth be what ye covet more
than gold or other gifts, if ye will please God ; for
whoso is contrary to Truth He tclleth us in the
Gospel that God doth not know him, nor any saint
in Heaven. Amen dico vobis, ftesci'o vos.^ And
ye who seek St. James, and the saints of Rome,
seek St. Truth, for he can save you all ; Qui cum
patrc etfilia ^ that it may be well with them who
follow my sermon." And thus said Reason.

Then came Repentance and repeated Reason's,
theme, and made Will weep water with his eyes.

LANGLAND'S VISION OF

Superhia (Pride).

IVrnd Proud-heart threw herself to the earth, J
«ud lay long ere she looked up, and cried, ^ Lord,
WMMCy I '' and vowed to Him who made us all that
9)h» would unsew her shift and put upon her a hair li;
«hirt, to tame her flesh that was fierce to sin. .-i
^^ High heart shall never seize me, hut I will hold (a
ini» low and suffer myself to he spoken ill of ; and (:
thus, have I never done. But now I will he meek
md beseech pardon, for all this I have hated in my
heart." »

Luxuria (Lechery).
Then Lecher said " Alas ! " and he cried on our
lady for mercy between God and his soul because
of his misdeeds, — if that he should drink only with
the duck, and dine but once on Saturdays for seven
^■ears after.

Invtdia (Envy).

Envy with heavy heart asked for shrift, and
tM>rrowfully he began to cry out mea culpa.* He was
as pale as a pellet,3 and seemed in the palsy, and he
was clothed in a caurimawry,^ which I could not de-
scribe. He was in kirtle ^ and kourteby ^ and a knife

* See Appendix p. 125 for passage in C.

* My sin, 1.^., *' I have sinned,'* a phrase taken firom the
ii>rm of confession. The C-text adds here, *' His ck>thes woe of
cursing and sharp words."

s A pellet or ball used as a war-missile, generally of stooe.
^ The name of some coarse, rough matenaL
5 A kind of under-jacket.
VMrt coat or doak.

w

PIERS THE PLOWMAN.

by his side, the upper sleeves were of a friar's fn
And like a leek which had lain long in the sun,
he looked, with his hollow cheeks and evil scowl.
His body was nigh swollen to bursting for anger,
so that he bit his lips, and he went along clenching
his fist, and thought to avenge hiniself in deeds or
in words when he saw his time. Every word he
threw out was from an adder's tongue ; he lived by
finding fault and making accusation, together
backbiting and slander and bearing false witnt
this was all his courtesy wherever he sho'
himself.

" I would be shriven," said this evil one, " if for
shame I durst : by God, I would be gladder for
Gib to have ill-luck than if I had this week
won a wey ' of Essex cheese. I have a neighbour
nigh me, I have often envied him, and lied about
him to lords to make him lose his silver, and I have
made his friends his foes through my false tongue.
His favour and his good fortune full sorely grieve
me.

" Between house and house I often make strife,
so that both life and limb are lost through my
words. And when I meet in the market him whom
I most hate, I hail him graciously as if I were his
friend, for he is stronger than I, and I dare do no
other. But had I mastery and might, — God knoweth
my will!

I

owl. \

I when I c

! to the church, and ahoul

■ Wijp = A certaia we^ht, here 3 c

62 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

kneel to the Rood, and pray for the people as the ]
priest teacheth, for pilgrims and palmers and after-
wards for all people, then I ask on my knees that
Christ may give them sorrow who bore away my
bowl and my tattered sheet.' I turn my eyes away
from the altar and see how Ellen has a new coat, .
and I wish then it were mine, and all the web it I
came from. And I laugh at men's loss, for it
pleaseth my heart, and I weep at their gain and i
bewail the time, and deem that they do ill when I
do full worse ; and whoso reproveth me for it I bear
him deadly hate. I would that every man were my
servant, for when any hath more than I it sorely
vexeth me. And thus I live loveless like an evil
dog, and all my body swelleth for the bitterness of
my gall.' I have not eaten as a man ought for j
many years, for envy and evil will are hard to
digest. Can no sugar, nor sweet thing assuage
my swelling? nor no dtapenidton^ drive it from
my heart, nor neither shrift nor shame, except one
scrape my maw ? "
I . " Yes, readily," said Repentance, and counselled
him for the best, " Sorrow for sins is salvation of
souls."

t

' The bowl was probably a large wooden one, used to contain
straps of broken victuals. Neither bowl nor sheet were things
of any value, but Envy could not refrain from cursing the thief.
{SkeaU)

^ See Appendix, p. 126 for C. passage.
. 3 An emollient, or expectorant. Prof. Skeat remarks on the
passage — " A forcible way of expressing the question, * Can
none h\xi tht most violent meocsuies teUeve my moral sickness ? ***

PiEss tBe plowman. 63

" I am sorry," said Envy, " I am but seldom other-
wise, and it maketh me thus thin because I cannot
avenge me. Among burgesses in London I have
been dwelling, and through a broker I caused back-
biting and finding fault with men's wares. When
he sold and I not, then I was ready to He and scow)
on my neighbour and to 6nd fault with his goods. I
will amend this, if I may, through the might of
God Almighty."

Ira (Anger),

Now awaketh Wrath, with two white eyes, and
snivelling with his nose, and bending his neck.'
*'I am Wrath," said he, "I was sometime a firiar
and the convent's gardener for grafting shoots. On
limiters ' and lectors 3 I grafted lies, till they bore
leaves of lowly speech to please lords, and then
they blossomed abroad into the lady's bower to hear
confession, and there is come this fruit thereof, —
that folk would sooner make confession to them
than confess to their own parsons. And now the
parsons have perceived that these friars share the
profits with them, and these possessioners * preach
and slander the friars, and the friars find them in
the wrong, as folk bear witness, and say that when

' C. has " biliog his lipa."

' MemlwrB of a convent licensed lo beg withb a certain
limited dislrict,
> Probably means [ireiichets 01 lecturers.
* FositmoHer probably hsie nieans one of the beiwficnl

64 LANGLANL^S VISION OF

they preach to the people in many a place around^
, I, Wrath, walk with them and teach them from my
books. Thus they both speak of spiritual power, so
that either despiseth the other, till they become
beggars and live by the spiritual power that I give
them ; or else they are all rich and ride about. I,
Wrath, never rest that I do not follow this wicked
folk, for such is my grace. I have an aunt both nun
and abbess ; she would sooner swoon or die than
suffer any pain, I have been cook in her kitchen
and served the convent many months, with them,
and also with the monks. I was pottage maker for
the prioress and other poor ladies, and made them
pottage from the idle talk that Dame Joanna was a
bastard, and Dame Clarice was a knight^s daughter,
but her father was a cuckold, and Dame Pernel a
priest's wench, who will never be prioress. I, Wrath,
dressed their herbs with wicked words, till * Thou
liest,' and *Thou liest,' leaped out at once, and
either hit the other on the cheek ; by Christ, had
they had knives each had killed the other ! Saint
Gregory was a good Pope, and had, good fore-
thought when he ordained that no prioress should be
priest.' For they then had been infamis * the first
day, so ill can they keep counsel.

"Among monks I might go, but I shun them

* An allusion to the practice of certain abbesses who took upon
themselves to hear confession of their nuns as well as ** to exer-
cise some other smaller parts of the clerical function."

' Infamous ; here refers to the violation of the oath of secrecy
in confession.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN.

1

many a time, because there are many cruel men to
spy out my doings,' both prior and superior and
our pater abbas ; and if I tell any tales they
consult together aiid make me fast on Fridays on
bread and water, and I am charged in the chapter-
house as if I were a child. So I have no liking to
dwell with those men. I eat small fish there, and
drink weak ale ; but at other times when wine
Cometh, when I drink at evening, I have a foul
mouth full five days afterwards. All the wicked-
ness that I know about any of our brethren I spread
it abroad in our cloister, so that all the convent
know it."

" Now repent thee," said Repentance, " and |{
thou never repeat counsel that thou knowest, I
favour nor by right ; nor drink over-delicate
drinks, nor too deep either, lest thy will, because of
it, should turn to wrath. ' Eito mbrius^ ' he said,
and then absolved me, and bade me wish to wee
to amend my wickedness."

Avaricia (Co veto usn ess).

And then came Covetousness ; I cannot describe
him, so hungry and hollow Sir Harvey looked. He
was beetle-browed and also thick-lipped, with two
bleared eyes like a blind hag, and like a leathern

' The B-t«xl from which ihis translation is made has here,
Jtrts — companions ; Init betler sense U obtained by tLiking thl
afftrts of (he C-lexI, and rendering it as above. '

6

read
ve nt I

icate 1
se of
said, ,

\

II

66 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

purse his cheeks lolled about even lower than his
chin, and they trembled for eld.' And his beard
was beslobbered with bacon, like a bondman's. A
hood was on his head above a lousy hat, and he
was in a tawny coat twelve winters old and full of
vermin, and all dirty and torn to rags, and full of
creeping lice ; except a louse were a good leaper
she could not have walked on that stuff, it was so
threadbare.

" I have been covetous," said this caitiff, " I here
acknowledge it. For some time I served Sim at
the Stile, and was bound his prentice to serve his
profit.

" First I learned to lie a leaf or two,* to weigh
falsely was my first lesson. At my master's bidding
I went to the fair at Weyhill and Winchester with
many kinds of merchandise, and had the grace of
Guile not gone with my wares, they had been unsold
these seven years, so God help me !

" Then I went among drapers to learn my primer,
and to draw the selvage along that it might seem
longer. Among the rich striped cloths I did my
lesson, and sewed them with a pack needle, and
fastened them together, and put them in a press and
pinned them therein, till ten or twelve yards were
stretched out to thirteen.

" My wife was a weaver and made woollen

^ Old age.

= This phrase is anticipatory of the metaphor of reading a
book which occurs lower, where he speaks of learning his
primer.

w

riEJiS THE PLOWMAN.

cloth ; she told the spinners to spin it out ; but | I
the pound that she paid them by weighed a quarter
more than my own balance, if a man weighed true. '

" I bought her barley malt and she brewed it to
sell. Penny ale ' and pudding ale ' she poured
together for labourers and poor folk, and kept it by
itself. The best ale was kept in my room or in my
bedchamber, and whoso tasted of it bought it after-
wards, a gallon for a groat, no less, God wot ; and
yet it came in cupfuls,3 for my wife did this trick.
Rose the Retailer was her rightful name ; she hath
been at huckstering all her life-time. But I swear
now, as I thrive, that I will stop that sin, and never
weigh falsely nor use bad merchandise, but go to
Walsingham with my wife, and pray the Rood of
Bromholm ' to bring me out of debt."

" Didst thou ever repent, or make restitution ? "
said Repentance.

" Yes," said he, " Once I was lodged with a
crowd of chapmen, and I rose up when they were at
rest and rifled their bags."

"That was no restitution," said Repentance,
*'but a robber's theft ; thou hadst been more
worthy of hanging for that than for all else that
thou hast showed."

"I weened that rifling was restitution," said he,

* Common oi thin ale.

' PtoUibly called sd because it was thick like puilding.

' Or, by cups at a time. She knew bellet than ■ -

En a tnilk
•the,

is of Bromholm in Norfolk.

68 LANGLANjyS VISION OF

" for I never learned to read in books, and I know
no French, in faith, but of the farthest end of
Norfolk."

"Usury didst thou ever use in all thy life?"
said Repentance.

** Nay, truly," he said, " except in my youth. I
leamed*a lesson amongst Lombards and Jews, how
to weigh pence with a weight, and pare down the
heaviest, and to lend it* for love of the Cross * that
a pledge might be laid and lost,3 and such things I
wrote down lest he broke his day. I have more
manors through arrears than through miseretur et
comodat^

" I have lent lords and ladies my merchandise,
and been their broker afterward and bought it
myself; exchanges and chevesances,s I deal in
such wares, and lend to folk who lose a good
part of every noble ; and with Lombards' letters I
took gold to Rome ; and I received it here by tally,
and there counted it out less to them."

*' Didst thou ever lend to lords for desire of their
protection ? "

" Yea, I have lent to lords who loved me never
afterwards, and have made many a knight both

' /.^., the light coin.

^ For love of the Cross is a clever pun, since cross refers fre-
quently to the cross on the back of old coins, and was a slang
name for a coin, as in Shakespeare. {Skeat,)

3 By the borrower. The key to the whole passage is to
remember that borrowers often gave pledges of much value.
{Skeat.)

4 He is merciful and lends — a phrase from Psalm cxii. 5.
' Agreements about the loan of money.

PJERS THE PLOWMAN.

mercer and draper who never paid for his prenlice-
hood a pair of gloves." '

" Hast thou pity on poor men who must needs
borrow ' ? "

" I have as much pity on poor men as a pedlar |
hath on cats, who would kill them for greed of
their skins if he could catch them," '

"Art thou open-handed with meat and drink
amongst thy neighbours?"

" I am held," he said, " as courteous as a cur in
the kitchen, and among my neighbours in special I I
have such a name."

" Now except thou soon repent, may God never

give thee grace on this earth to bestow thy goods

well, nor may thine issue after thee have joy of

what thou winnest, nor may thine executors bestow

well the silver that thou dost entrust them with, and

may what was won with wrong be spent by wicked

nien.3 For if I were a friar of a house where good

' faith and charity are, I would not clothe us with thy

1 goods nor repair our church, nor have a penny of

[ thine for my pittance, by my soul's health, for the

best book in our house, though the leaves were of

exceeding bright gold, if I knew indeed thou wert

such as thou tellest, or if I could find out that so

' Avarice, in his dealings with knights, usetl to buy silk and
cloth from them nt a. sufficiently «ieap rale ; and he now
iTonically calls his cuslonicts mercers and drapers who never
I paid anything (or their apprenticeship.

' I^., buy on ctedll.
I ' See Appendix, p. la?, for pass^e in C-lcxl

^ LANGLAND'S VISION OF

: ^«$ in «ny wise. Seruus es alterius cum fer-
^.* «V"^ queris^ pane tuo pocius vescere^ liber

■ tV>u «rt an unkindly creature. I can nol
ifX^^^Y thee till thou make restitution and reckon
^» with all of them, and until Reason hath enrolled
- v.t Hetven*s register that thou hast made it good
V tstry man. ^Non dimittiiur peccaium^ doruc
^^mattir ablatum, &c.^ For all who have aught
^ thy goods, so God have my truth, shall be
)K>ttnd at the great Doom to help thee make restitu-
:n<i. And whoso bdieveth not this for truth let
)iiin look in the Psalter, in Miserere mens deus^
Aether I speak truly, Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti^
j^c.* Never shall workman in this world thrive
with what thou dost win ; Cum sancto sanctus eris^
^vnstrue me that in English."

Then that wretch fell into despair, and would
liavc hanged himself had not Repentanqe the
rather heartened him, in this manner :

** Have mercy in mind, and beg for it with thy
mouth, for God*s mercy is more than all His other
works ; Mtsertcordta eius super omnia opera etusf
&c., and all the wickedness in this world that man

* Thou art the slave of another when thou seekest dainty
Uishes, eat rather thine own bread and thou wilt be free.

" Thy sin will not be remitted, until the thing carried off Ls
restored.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord.

* For behold thou hast delighted in truth.

^he holy thou shalt be holy.
ircy is ovei aU Vns vioxks.

^^" PIERS THE PLOWMAN. ^HH

could do or think is no more to the mercy of God
than a gleed in the sea.' Omnis iiiiguitas quan-
tum ad misericordiam dei, esl quasi sintUla in medio
maris.' Therefore keep mercy in thy mind and
among thy wares, trust to it ; for thou hast no |

good ground whereof to get thee a cake, except it
were with thy tongue or else thy two hands ; for the |

goods that thou hast got came through nought but
falsehood, and as long as thou livest therewith thou i
payest naught but rather borrowest. And if ever
thou knowest not to what, nor to whom, to make
restitution, take it to the bishop, and ask him of his
grace to bestow it himself as is best for thy soul. '

For he shall answer for thee at the great Doom,
for thee and for many more that man shall give
account. Trust to naught else than what he
taught you in Lent, and what he lent you of our
IjOrd's goods to keep you from sin." ■

^H Gula ^^^

^^^^ow Glutton goeth to shrift, and betaketh hdB^^
churchward to show his sins. But Beton the '
brewster bade him good-morrow, and with that
asked him, Whitherward would he ?

"To Holy Church," said he, " to hear mass, and
afterwards I will be shriven and sin no more."

' C. has, " Wklced deeds fare as a spark of die that fell in
■nid-Thamcs and died for a drop of water."

' All iniquity is to the mercy o( God as a spark In the midst
of the or --

7a LANGLANiys VISION OF

** I have good ale, gossip/' said she ; *' Glutton,
wilt thou try it ? "

" Hast thou at all in thy store any hot spices ? "

•*I have pepper and seeds of paeony," said she,
** and a pound of garlic, and a farthing's-worth of
fennel seed for fasting days/'

Then goeth Glutton in and great oaths after
him ; Cis the shoemaker sat on the bench, Wat the
warrener and his wife also, Tim the tinker and two
of his prentices, Hick the hackney man,^ and Hugh
the needle-seller, Clarice of Cock Lane, and the
clerk of the church, Daw the ditcher, and a dozen
others, Sir Piers of Pridie and Pernel of Flanders,*
a fiddle player, a ratter, a sweeper of Cheap,3 a rope-
maker, a riding-man,^ and Rose the dish-maker,
Grodfrey of Garlickhithe and Griffin the Welshman,
and many old clothesmen ; and early in the morning,
with brave cheer, they all gave to Glutton good ale
for fellowship.5

Then Clement the cobbler cast off his cloak, and
put it for sale at the New Fair ; ^ Hick the hackney-

■ One who let out horses on hire.

^ C. inserts, '*A keeper of cattle, a hermit, the hangman of
Tyburn and a dozen rascals — porters, pick-purses, and bald tooth-
drawers.'*

3 A scavenger of West Cheap, or Cheapside.

* Redynkyng=one of a class of feudal retainers who held
their land by serving their lord on horseback. {Skeat,)

s To hansel— {}iX,) for an earnest or pledge.

• A game of barter. " It seems that Hikke chose Bette to be
his deputy. Then Bette and one appointed by Clement tried to

Tgain, but could not settle it till Robyn was called in
ly whose decision Clement and Hikke had to abide.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN. 73

nan threw down his hood, and bade Bet the
[mtcher be on his side. There were chapmen
:hosen to value these wares ; whoso hath the hood
should have amends for the cloak« Two rose up
quickly and whispered together, and apart by them-
selves appraised these pennyworths ; and they could
not in their conscience agree rightly, till Robin
the roper arose for the truth, and named them an
umpire to settle the bargain between the three,
that there should be no debate. Hick the hostler
had the cloak, in covenant that Clement should fill
the cup, and have Hick the hostler's hood, and
hold himself content ; and whoso first repented it
should then rise up and pledge Sir Glutton in t
gallon of ale. There was laughing and louring, and
they cried ''Let the cup go round," and so they
sat till evensong, and at times they sang, till Glutton
had gulped down a gallon and a gilL

He could neither step nor stand until he had hit
sta£F, and then he went like a gleeman't dog,
sometimes aside, and sometimes behind, as one
who layeth nets to catch fowL And when he drew
nigh the door then his eyes grew dim, and he
stumbled on the threshold, and fell to the ground*
Clement the cobbler caught him round the middle
to lift him up, and laid him across his knees. With
all the woe in the world his wife and his daughter

Hikke obtained the cloak, whsdi was the better arttele, aiut
Clement was allowed to fill op his cap at Hikke's ex|>ense.
If either drew back he was to be fined a gallon oiale/'
{Skeat.^

74 LANGLANjyS VISION OF

bare him home to bed and put him therein ; and
after all this excess he had a fit of sloth, so that he
slept Saturday and Sunday till the sun went down.
Then he awoke from his slumber, and the first
word he said was, " Where is the bowl ? " Then
his wife upbraided him for his wicked living, and
also Repentance rebuked him thus :

'^ Thou hast wrought evil in thy life in words and
works, shrive thee therefore and be ashamed thereof,
and declare it with thy mouth."

"I, Glutton," said the man, "confess myself
guilty : that I have trespassed with my tongue I
cannot tell how often ; sworn * God's soul ' and * So
God help me and halidom ' where there was no
need, nine hundred times ; and over-eaten myself at
supper and sometimes at dinner,' so that I, Glutton,
brought it up before I had gone a mile, and spilled
what might be saved and spent on some hungry
one ; I have both eaten and drunken over-delicately
on fasting days, and sometimes sat so long there
that I slept and ate together. For love of idle tales
in taverns, and to drink the more, I dined, and hied
to the meat before noon on fasting days."

"This open confession," said Repentance, " shall
be for merit to thee."

And then Glutton began to weep and make
great mourning for his wicked life that he had
lived, and vowed to fast ; " Neither for hunger nor
thirst shall fish on Friday enter me till Abstinence,

' Lit. "nones^^* which at this time were at noon.

VESobbere

P/SXS TBE PLOWHAN.
I

my aunt, hath given oie leave ; and iret have 3
juibed her all my lifeytime.''

Accidia (Sloth).

: Sloth with two slimy eyes, and 1

lered. "I must sit," said he, "or eUelshoi

nap ; I may not stand nor stoop, nor kneel without
a stool. Were I abed no liogiag would make me
rise until I were ready to dine." With a great
sigh he heaved forth benedicite, and beat his
breast, and stretched himself and groaned, and
at last he snored.

" What ! awake, man ! " said Repentance,
haste thee to shrift."

" If I should die on this day I should not cai
I know not my paternoster perfectly as the priest
singeth it, but I know rimes of Robin Hood and
Randolph, Earl of Chester, but neither of our Lord
nor our Lady the least rime that ever was made,
I have made forty vows and forgotten them in the
morning ; I never performed penance as the priest
bade me, nor was I ever yet right sorry for my sins.
And if I pray any prayers, except it be in wrath,
what I say with my tongue is two miles from my
heart.

" Every day, holidays and others, I am busy with
idle tales at the alehouse, and at other times in
churches ; God's pain and passion I full seldom
think on. I never visited sick men nor fettered folk
iu prison ; I would rather hear of harlotry

and
ar^^l

76 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

cobblers' summer game, ' or lying tales to laugh at
and belie my neighbour, than all that Mark and
Matthew, John, and Luke ever wrote. And vigils
and fasting days, all these I let pass and lie in bed in
Lent, till matins and mass be done, and then I go
to the friars ; if I come to ite^ mtssa est^^ I hold
myself served. I am not shriven for a long time
except sickness force me, not twice in two years,
and then upon guess I shrive myself.

" I have been priest and parson more than thirty
winters, yet I can neither solfa3 nor sing, nor read
saints' lives ; but I can find a hare in a field or
furrow better than I can interpret plainly one
clause in beatus vir or heaii omnesj^ and tell it
to my parishioners. I can hold love-days, s and hear
a reeve's reckoning, but in the Canon or the
Decretals^ I cannot read a line. If I buy and
promise to pay, except it be tallied, I forget it
as quickly, and if men ask it of me six or seven
times I deny it with oaths ; and thus I vex true
men ten hundred times. And my servants' wages
are a long time behind, grievous is it to hear the

' Summer game is probably the same as summering^ a rural
sport at midsummer.

" The concluding; words of the service of the Mass — " Go ;
[the congregation] is dismissed."

3 Solfa^io practise singing the scale of notes.

^ Blessed is the man (Psa. i. or cxii.). Blessed are all (Psa.
cxxviii.).

5 Days for the settlement of disputes by arbitration.

^ Canon, the canon of the Mass. Decretals, a collection of
popes' edicts and decrees of councils, forming part of the
canon law.

PIEJiS THE PLOWMAN.

1

;th me in^^^^

reckoning when we make up accounts ;
will and wrath I pay my workmen.

" If any man doth me a benefit, or helpeth
need, I am unkind towards his courtesy, and cannot
understand it ; for I have, and have had, something
of a hawk's way ; I am not lured with love, except
there lie aught under the thumb. The kindness
that my fellow- Christians showed me of yore, I,
Sloth, have forgotten it sixty times since.

"By speech and by sparing of speech I have
wasted many a time both flesh and fish, and many
other victuals ; both bread and ale, butter, milk, and
cheese, I have wasted carelessly in my service, till
it could serve no man. I wandered about in youth
and gave myself to learn naught, and for my
sloth have been a beggar ever since ; ' heti m
quod sUrilem vitam dttxi iuvem'lem.' '*

" Repentest thou not ? " said Repentance,
forthwith he swooned, till Vigtlate ' the watcher
fetched water from his eyes, and threw it on
his face, and cried to him earnestly, and said,
" Beware of Despair, who would betray thee.
' I am sorry for my sins,' say thus to thyself, and
beat thyself on the breast, and pray for His grace,
for there is no guilt so great but His goodness is
not greater."

Then Sloth sat up and straightway crossed him-
self, and made a vow before God against his foul
sloth. " There shall be no Sunday this seven

3uth :

foul J

'm

cher^^^

78 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

except sickness hinder it, that I shall not before day
betake me to the dear church, and hear Matins and
Mass as if I were a monk. No ale after meat shall
keep me thence till I have heard evensong, I vow
to the Rood. And also I will repay, if I have as
much, all that I have gained wickedly, since I had
wit. And though my livelihood fail, I will never
cease until every man have his own ere I go
hence ; and with the residue and the remnant, by
the Rood of Chester, I will seek Truth first before I
see Rome."

Robert the Robber looked on Reddite^^ and for
that he had nought wherewith to make restitution
he wept full sore. But yet the sinful wretch said to
himself, *' Christ, that didst die upon the cross on (
Calvary, when Dismas* my brother besought thy
grace, and hadst mercy on that man for sake of
memento^^ so have pity on this robber who may not
have redder e^^ nor may never hope to earn by
handicraft what I owe. But for thy great mercy I
beseech compassion ; condemn me not at Dooms-
day for what I did so ill."

What befell this thief I cannot fully show, well I
know he wept water fast with both his eyes, and
soon after acknowledged his sin to Christ, and

' Restore.

^ The name of the penitent thief as given in the apocryphal
Gospel of Nicodemus.

3 " Remember." " Domine memento me," &c. " Lord,
xemember me " (Luke xxiii. 42).

•* ^Wherewith) to restore.

:i

r

P2ERS THE PLOWMAN.

vowed that he would polish anew his staff pg>
tencia,' and go" with it on pilgrimage over the lai
all his life.

And then Repentance had pity and told them
to kneel. " For I will pray our Saviour for gn
for all sinful ones, to heal us of our misdeeds, and
have mercy on us all. Now, God," said he,
" that of Thy goodness hast made the world, and
of naught didst make aught and man most like
Thyself; and then didst suffer him to sin — a sick-
ness for us all, and all for the best, for I believe
whatever the book teileth, felix culpa/ O
necessarium peccatum Ade^ he. For through that
sin Thy Son was sent to the earth and became man
of a maid, to save mankind, and didst make
Thyself with Thy Son and us sinftil ones alike:
Faciamus hominem ad ymaginem et similitudifia
nostram.*

Et alibi : qtn manet in carilata, in deo manet,
deus in eo.' And afterwards, with Thy Son Himself,
didst die in our flesh for man's sake on Good Friday,
at full time of the day, and there Thyself nor Thy
Son didsC feel no sorrow in death, but in our flesh
was the sorrow, and Thy Son took it, Captivam
duxit captivitatem!' The sun for sorrow thereof.

' Penitence.

' Lit. " By help of it leap over the land." &c.

' O blessed ain ! O necessaiy -'- '■'--■

* Let us make man In ou]
s And elsewhere: Whosi

and God in him.

• He led captivity caplivi

an

So LANGLANiyS VISION OF

lost his light for a time, about midday, the meal-
time of saints,' when there is most light ; thou
didst feed our forefathers in darkness with thy fresh
blood, Populus qui amhulahat in tenebris^ vidit
lucem magnant;^ and through the light that went
out of Thee Lucifer was blinded, and Thou didst
blow 3 Thy blessed into the bliss of Paradise. The
third day after. Thou didst go about in our flesh,
and sinful Mary alone saw Thee before St. Mary
thy mother ; and all to solace the sinfid Thou didst
suffer it should be so. Non veni vocare iustoSj
set peccatores ad penitenciam,^ And Thy bravest
deeds, all that Mark, Matthew, John, and Luke,
have written of, were done in our armour. Verbum
caro factum estj et hahitavit in nobis, s And by so
much, meseemeth, we may the more surely pray

' This expression seems to be a figurative one, having re-
ference to the time of the crucifixion, when Christ's blood was
shed upon the cross. It has also been suggested that there is
reference here to Canticles i. 7. I prefer to take it in connec*
tion with the succeeding context, and to suppose that the poet
is speaking of the crucifixion, as having been a time of refiresh*
ment to our fore&thers who sat in darkness ; the force of which
reference can only be understood by readers who are familiar
with the apocr^hal gospel of Nicodemus. There the quotation
from Isa. ix. 2, is ex|3ained with reference to the *' Harrowing of
Hell," ue.^ the descent of Christ into hell to fetch out the souls
of the Patriarchs. (Skeat,)

' The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light

3 The term " didst blow " is explained by the woM " bre^**
used in a passage in the second part of the poem with regard to
the entrance of Christ into hell, " with that breath hell brake
open."

^ I came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance.

s The Word was made nesh, and dwelt amongst us.

ben Hope seized a^fflH
vivificabis nos,' and blew
remisse sunt iniquitates? s(
heaven sang at once, Homii
qtumadmodum multiplicast
deus,i &c.

And then thronged tog
who cried up to Christ ar
grace to go with them to s
was no man so wise among t
and they wandered over ba
like beasts, for a long time,
they met a man dressed as a
guise. He bare a staff bo
wound around it in the
A bowl and a bag he bare
ampulless were placed up(
Sinai, and shells of Galicia,
keys-of-Rome on his cloak, a

^^■O Cod. thou hast convetted us

82 LANGLAME^S VISION OF

so that men shotild know and see by his tokens whom
he had sought.'

The people asked him first from whence he came.

" From Sinai," he said, " and frcwn our Lord's
sepulchre ; I have been both in Bethlehem and
Babylon, in Armenia, in Alexandria, and in many
other places. Ye may see by my tokens on my hat
that I have walked full £ar in wet and dry,^ and have
sought good saints for my soul's health."

'' Knowest thou aught of a saint that men call
Truth ? Couldest thou at all show us the way to
his dwelling ? "

" Nay, so God help me," said the man then, " I
never saw palmer with staff or with scrip ask before
about him, till now in this place."

" Peter 1 " said a ploughman, and thrust forward
his head, " I know him as well as a clerk his books ;
Conscience and Mother-wit showed me his dwelling
and made me promise faithfully to serve him for
ever both in sowing and planting, as long as I could
labour. I have been his follower all these fifty

* Besides the ordinary insignia of pilgrimage, every pilgrimage
had its special signs ^ which *' the pil^im on his return wore
conspicuously upon his hat or his scrip, or hanging round his
neck, in token that he had accdmplished that particular pil-
grimage " (quoted from Cutt's " Scenes and Characters of the
Middle Ages"). Thus the ampulla were the special signs of the
Canterbury pilgrimage ; the scallop-shell was the si^ of the pfl-
grimage to Compostella (shrine of St. James in Galicia) ; wmlst
the signs of the Roman pilgrimage were a badge with the
effigies of St. Peter and St. Paul, the cross-keys (keys-of-Rome)
and the vemicle. The vemicle was a copy of the handkerchief
of St. Veronica, which was miraculously impressed with the
features of our Lord. (Skeat,)

PlEfiS THE PLOWMAN.

1

winters ; T have sown his seeds and driven his
beasts and looked after his profit within and with-
oat. I ditch and I dig, and I do what Truth
biddeth ; sometimes I sow and sometimes I thresh ;
in tailors' or tinkers' craft whatever Truth can
devise ; T weave and I wind and do whatever
Truth biddeth. And though I say It myself, I
serve him to his pleasure. I have my full hire
from him and sometimes more. He is the readiest
payer that poor men know, he withholdeth from
no man his hire when evening comes. He is meek
as a lamb and pleasant of speech, and if ye wish
to know where he dwelleth, verily I will show you
the way to his place."

" Yea, dear Piers," said these pilgrims, and prof-
fered him hire to go with them to Truth's dwelling-
place.

" Nay, by my soul's health," said Piers, and
began to swear, " I would not take a farthing for
St. Thomas' shrine I Truth would love me the
less a long time after ; but if ye wish indeed to go,
this is the way thither that I shall tell you and set
jTOU on the true road.

"Ye must go through Meekness, both men and
women, until ye come into Conscience ; let Christ
know the truth, that ye love our Lord God the
best of all things ; and then in no wise hurt your
neighbour any more than thou wouldest he shouli
thyself

" And so turn forth by a brook, Be-humble-d

84 LANGLANjyS VISION OF

speech, till ye find a ford, Honour-your-Fathers^
ffonora pairem et tnatrem^ &c. Wade in that
water, and wash you well there, and ye shall all your
life go the more easily. And then thou shalt see
Swear-not-at-all-except-it-be-of- need-and-in-special-
not-idly-by-the-name-of-God- Almighty. Then thou
shalt come by a croft, but go not therein ; that croft
is called Covet-not-men's-goods-nor-their-wives-nor-
any-of-their-servants-to-vex-them. See that ye
break no boughs there except they be your own»
Two stocks stand there, they are called Steal-not
and Slay-not, but tarry not, strike forth past both
and leave them on thy left hand and look not after
them ; and keep well thy holiday till even.

" Then shalt thou turn away from a hill. Bear-no-
false-witness ; it is hedged in with florins and many
other fees ; see thou pluck no plant there, for the
peril of thy soul.

"Then shalt thou see Say-truth-as-it-is-to-be-
done-in-no-other-manner-for-any-man's-command.

" Then shalt thou come to a court as bright as
the sun ; the moat about the manor is of Mercy,
and all the walls are of Wit to keep Will out, and
embattled with Christendom to guard mankind,
and buttressed with Believe-so-or-thou-shalt-not-be-
saved. And all the houses, the halls and the cham-
bers, are covered not with lead, but with Love and
Lowly-speech-like-brethren.

" The bridge is of Pray-well-and-the-better-mayst-
' Honour father and mother, &c.

PIERS THE PLOWMAtf, 85

thou-speed ; each pillar is of Penance of prayers to
saints, and of alms-deeds are the hinges that the
gates hang upon. The porter is called Grace, a
good man forsooth ; his man is called Amend-you
for many a man knoweth him ; say to him this
sign that Truth may know the truth, * I performed
the penance the priest enjoined me and am full
sorry for my sins, and so I shall ever be when I
think thereon, though I were a pope.'

" Pray Amend-you then to humble himself to his
master, and to ask him to lift up the wicket that
the woman shut, when Adam and Eve ate un-
roasted apples. Per Evam cunctis clausa est, et
fier Mariam virginem iterum patefacta est ; ' for he
hath the keys and the latch, though the King may
sleep.

" And if Grace grant thee to go in thus thou
shalt see Truth dwelling in thy heart in a chain
of charity, even as if thou wert a child to suffer him
and say naught against thy Father's will. But
then beware of Wrath who is a wicked shrew, he
hath envy towards him who dwelleth in thy heart ;
and thrusteth forth Pride, for praise of thyself.
The boldness of thy good deeds then maketh thee
Uind, and then thou shalt be driven out as dew and
the door closed, and keyed and latched to keep thee
out; haply a hundred winters before thou enter
again. Thus thou mightest lose his love for setting

* By Eve il was shut to all, and by Mar; the Vii^n it was

;86 LANGLAHD'S VISION OF

much by thyself, and haply never enter again, except
thou have grace.

"But there are seven sisters who serve Truth
ever, and they are porters of the posterns, and
belong to the place. One is called Abstinence, and
another Humility, Charity and Chastity are his
chief handmaids. Patience and Peace help much
people. Largess the lady hath let in full many.
She hath helped a thousand out of the devil's pin-
fold. And whoso is akin to these seven, so God
help me, he is wondrously welcome and received
kindly^ And except ye be akin to some of these
seven, it is full hard, by my head," said Piers, "for
sgaiy one of you to get entrance at any gate there,
except there be more grace.

" Now, by Christ,*' said a cutpurse, " I have no
kin there."

" Nor I," said an ape-keeper, " for aught I know ! "

" God save us," said a wafer-seller, " if I knew
this for truth I would go never a foot further for
any friar's preaching."

" Yes, verily," said Piers the Plowman, and egged
them all on to goodness, " Mercy is a maiden there
who hath power over them all ; and she is akin to
all the sinful, and her Son also ; and through the
help of those two (hope thou none other), thou
mightest find favour there, if thou go betimes."

" By St. Paul," said a pardoner, " peradventure
I be not known there ; I will go fetch my box with
my brevets, and a bull with bishop's letters ! "

PIERS THE TLOWMA.

I

TLOfVJI

^^^PBy Christ," said a low woman,
P^iy company ; thou shalt say I ai
; know not where they have gone ! " '

■ The C-text adds here : Yea, ra//aw tmt
f«nnl," snid one, ' ' and now I must thilher lo
me, and took his leave of Piers. AoQty
he " must needs follow five yoke [of oxe
tiovetli me to go with a good WJU and c
Therefore, I pray you. Piers, peradventure i
that I may be excused." Then was there '
seemed a husband. " I have wedded a
right wanton ways ; were I a se'nnight fror
anil lour on me, and chide me lighUy, ant
Therefore, Piers Plowman, I pray thee sa
come, for a Kit she clingelh to me so." . -
"Though r suffer sorrow, famine, and

Pten."

PASSUS VI.

Sf^ »t Plffomtan is to go with the pilgrims to find Truths hut
Mf first to plough apiece of land — He gives them all good
^BKe and fftakes his will — He sets the pilgrims to work —
Jim/ art idle, but Hunger subdues them — Hunger then
;nauils Piersy and refuses logo awaf — The people have to
itJhim.

**>Tmis way were hard to find except we had a guide
^^ would go with us every step." Thus this folk
,;ij0iplained.

Slid Perkin the Plowman, "By St. Peter of
Rome, I have a half-acre to plough by the highway,
9f I had ploughed and planted this half-acre I would
^1 with you and show you the way."

" That would be a long tarrying," said a lady in
3 xeih " What should we women work at mean-
while ? "

** Some shall sow the sack," said Piers, " to keep
the wheat from spilling ; and ye, lovely ladies, with
your long fingers, ^ho have silk and sendal to sew,'
loake^ while ye have time, chasubles for chaplains to
^orn churches. Wives and widows, spin ye wool
of flax, make cloth, I counsel you, and teach your
^- ■ •^. Take heed how the needy and the
\j and devise clothes for them, for so

^^" PIERS THE PLOWMAN. ^^^1

Truth commandeth. For I will give them their j
livelihood unless the land fail, flesh and bread both |
for rich and poor as long as I live, for the Lord of
Heaven's love. And all manner of men who live by
meat and drink, help them to work busily who win
your food." ,

" By Christ," then said a knight, " he teacheth us
the best, but about that matter, truly, I was never I
taught. But teach me," said the knight, " and, by ^J
Christ, I will try ! " ^

" By St. Paul," said Perkin, " ye proffer yourself ^
so fairly that I will labour and sweat and sow T
for us both, and do other labours for thy love all |
my life, in covenant that thou keep Holy Church j
and myself from wasters and from wicked men who
spoil this world. And go hunt boldly for hares and
foxes and boars and badgers that break down my
hedges, and go tame the falcons to kill wild fowl ;
for they come to my croft and crop my wheat."

Then the knight said courteously, " I pledge my
faith, Piers, to fulfil this covenant after my power,
though I should fight for it ; as long as I live I will
uphold thee."

" Yea, and yet one more point I pray you," said
Piers. " See that ye vex no tenant, except Truth will
assent. And though ye may amerce them, let Mercy
be the taxer, and Meekness thy master in spite of
Meed's cheeks ; and though poor men offer you
presents and gifts, take it not lest ye may not
deserve it ; for thou shalt pay for it again at a

. 90 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

year's end, in a dreadful place called Purgatoiy.
And if thou ill-use not diy bondmen thou mayst
speed the better ; though he be here thine under-
ling, in heaven it may well hap that he be set higher
and in greater bliss than thou, except thou do
better and live as thou shoiildst ; Atntce^ ascende
superius? For in the charnel-house at the church
it is hard to know churls, or a knight from a knave ;
keep this in thy heart. And see thou be true of
tongue and do thou hate tales, except they be of
wisdom or wit, to chasten thy workmen. Hold
with no ribalds nor listen to their lies, and
specially at meals eschew such men ; for they are
the Devil's story-tellers, I bid thee understand.''

^^I assent, by St. James," then said the knight,
"I will do according to thy words while my life
lasteth."

"And I will clothe me," said Perkin, **in a
pilgrim's guise, '* and I will go with you till we find
Truth, and I will put on me my clothes which are
patched and full of holes, my shoes,' and my cuffs
against the cold in my nails, and hang my seed-
basket at my neck instead of a scrip, and put therein
a bushel of bread-corn ; 3 for I will myself sow it,

' Friend, go up higher.

' Halliweli explains the original, Cockers^ ''as a kind of rustic
high shoes, or half boots fastened with laces or buttohs. Old
stockings without feet are also so called." Probably it means old
stockings without feet, worn as gaiters. {Skeat,)

3 ** Corn to be ground into brectd-nual [z.^., flour with only a
portion of the bran taken out, from which brown bread is made] ;
not to be used for finer purposes " (Peacock's glossary of certain
Lincolnsh'ire words, quoted by Skeat^.

J'lE^S THE'9

I Sud then I will go on a pilgri

^palmers do. But whoso noi

r to sow before I set out, by i

I leave to glean here in harvest

I therewith in spite of any who

I every kind of crafbman wl

J and faithfully I will find i

I Jack the juggler and Janet of

" e dice-player and Denot thi

r and the folk of his order,

:ause of his foul words. Ti

! me repeat it, Deleantu\

'. must not deal with them ;

jommanded to take no tithe

XHStis nan scrt'haiitur ; ' by |

B^pBcaped payment, now God ar

Piers's wife is called Damt

KUnd his daughter Do-right-or

; his son is named Su

lave ■ their -will -judge - them

m-shalt- d early-aby e - i t ,

"May God be with all," sai

[ word teacheth us.a

'• For now I am old and 1

I of my own, I will go with

' Let them be blotted quI from th

' Becaiise they ore Qol written wjl

> C. inserts, amongst others, the It

' ]f»<]3, such »5 mayors nnd seDftton

King oppoM it never; all that th^

92 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

and pilgrimage, and therefore, before I go, I will
write my bequest.

^^ In dei nomine^ amen^ I will make it mysel£
He shall have my soul who hath best deservoi it,
and He will defend it from the devil, as I believe,
till I come before Him to His account, as my Credx^
telleth me, to have release and remission on that
rental," I hope. The Church shall have my body
and keep my bones, for he 3 asked the tithe on my
corn and my goods, and I readily paid it lest my
soul should be in peril, therefore he is bound, I
hope, to put me in his Mass and mention me
among all Christians in his Commemoration. ^

'* My wife shall have what I earned honestly and
no more, and share it with my daughters and my
dear children. And though I should die to-day my
debts are all paid ; I took home what I had bor-
rowed before I went to bed. And with the residue
and the remnant, by the Rood of Lucca, I will
honour Truth therewith, as I live, and be his pilgrim
at the plough for poor men's sake. My plough foot
shall be my pike-stafF and pick the roots apart,5 and
help my coulter to cut and clean the furrows."

Now Perkin and his pilgrims have gone to plough,

' In the name of God, amen.

^ /.^., a release from the dues recorded in the rental.

3 He^ refers to \h!t persona ecclesicBy the parson. {JSkeat,^

* /.d., Service for 4e dead.

s The pike-staff means the pilgrim's spiked staE Piers sa3rs
that instead of carrying a pike-staff like a pilgrim, he will make
^ood use of his plough-foot, so as to push aside or pierce through
the roots that are in the soil. {Skeat,)

f/S/iS T31

id many helped him to e
id delvers digged up the

deased therewith, and prais

(Forkmen there were who wc
an in his own way made h
please Perkin, digged th
:me ' Piers let the plough
ik after them ; and whgg
)uld be hired afterwards
mid come.
And then he found som _
; ale, and helping to ear his
.Uilolli 1 "

" Now by peril of my sou
iger, " except ye arise qi
jrk, no grain that groweth

Our need, and though ye c
ke him that careth 1 "
Then were the rogues a
: blind : some crossed ' the
m, and made their moan

aercyofhim. "For we ha
"th, Lord, thanked be ye ;
'iers, and also for your plo-
lod may multiply your grj

lOur alms that ye give us
ibour nor sweat, such sickni
If what ye say be trueL

Nine o'clock a-'
The oiigical word U d/iW
itched oni." (5*«>/.)

J

^ LANGLAND'S VISION OF

«n5 is v^ut ! Ye are wasters, I know well, and Truth
VK*«^h the truth ! And I am his old servant, and
1^ hidden warn him who they are in the world
\«^^ have harmed his workmen. Ye waste what
\t <trnt by travail and trouble, but Truth shall
^y^^ you to drive his team before ye shall eat
NirWy-bread and drink of the brook. But if one be
^Knd or broken-legged or fettered with irons, he
«)mH eat wheat-bread and drink with me, till God
u\ His goodness send him a remedy.

**But ye could work as Truth wished, amid get
«\eat and hire for keeping cows in the field and the
vvrn from the beasts ; ye could ditch or delve or
thresh the sheaves, or help to make mortar, or carry
muck a-field. In lechery and lying and sloth ye
live, and it is all through long-suffering that ven-
i;[cance doth not over-take you. But anchorites
and hermits, who only eat at noon, and no more
t ill the morrow, they shall have my alms, and my
V^oods shall clothe those who have cloisters and
churches. But Robert Run-about shall have naught
of mine, nor shall any apostles,^ except they can
preach and have power from the bishop ; these may
iiave bread and pottage and be at ease, for it is an
ill-ruled Order that hath nothing certain."

Then a waster grew angry and would have
fought, and offered his glove to Piers the Plowman.
A Britoner,^ a braggart, thus also defied Piers :

* 7.^., preachers.

* An inhabitant of Brittany, a Frenchman ; here a term of

\ (SkeaU)

PIERS THE PLOWMAN.

" Wilt thou or wilt thou not, we will have oi
will ; we will take thy flour and thy flesh when
like, and make ua merry therewith, in spite of
cheeks 1 "

Then Pier^ the Plowman complained to
knight, to defend him, as their covenant was, fi
cursed shrews, and from these wolfish wasters,
who harm the world. " For they waste and earn
naught, and while that is there shall never be
plenty among the people, as long as my plough
standeth idle."

Then the knight courteously, as his habit Tras,
warned Waster, and taught him better, " Or els
by mine Order, thou shalt abye it after the law

" I was not wont to work," said Waster, "
I will not begin now ! " And he held Piers and
his plough but worth a pea, and threatened Piers
and his men if they met again soon.

" Now by peril of my sou! ! " said Piers, " I will
punish you all ! " And he shouted for Hunger,
who heard him at once, " Avenge me of these
wasters who shame the world," he said.

Then Hunger seized Waster quickly by the maw,
and wrung him so that both his eyes watered;
he buffeted the Britoner about the cheeks so that
he looked like a lantern ever afterwards. He beat
them both so that he nigh broke their ribs ; and
had not Piers with a peas-loaf prayed Hunger to
cease, they had both been buried — think nau; '
else.

nd I

96 LANGLAND'S VISION QF

" Suflfer them to live," he said, "and let them eat
with hogs, or beans and bran baked together^
or else milk and weak ale." Thus Piers prayed for
them.

Canting rogues, for fear thereof, flew into bams
and flapped on with flails from morning till even,
so that Hunger was not so bold as to look upon
them, because of a potfiil of peas which Piers had
got

A crowd of hermits seized their spades, and cut
up their cloaks and made short coats of them, and
went out as workmen with spades and shovels, and
digged and ditched to drive Hunger away.

The blind and bedridden were bettered by the
thousand, and those who sat begging silver were
soon healed. For what was baked for a horse was
good for many hungry men, and many a beggar
was glad to work for beans, and every poor man
was well pleased to have peas for hire, and what
Piers asked them to do they did as quickly as a
sparrow-hawk. And Piers was proud thereof, and
put them to work ' and gave them meat as he could
afford, and a fair hire.

Then Piers had pity, and prayed Hunger to go home

to his own land and stay there. " For I am now well

avenged of wasters through thy might. But I pray

thee before thou goest," said Piers to Hunger,

"what is best to do with beggars and bidders?

For I know well they will work full ill when thou

' C. adds : '* At plastering, digging, bearing dung a-field,
threshing, thatching, whittling of pegs.'*

w

P/EJiS THE PLOWMAN.

hast gone ; for it bodeth mischief that they should
be now so meek, and only for want of their food
are these men at ray will." '

"They are my brethren by blood, for God
bought us all," said Piers. " Truth once taught
me to love every one of them and to help them
always in all things as they needed it, and I would
now learn of thee what it were best to do, how I
could master them and make them work."

Then said Hunger, " Hear now, and hold it for
wisdom L — Big and bold beggars who can work for
their bread do thou keep up their hearts with dogs'
bread and horse bread ; to keep them low, appease
their hunger with beans, and if the men murmur,
bid them go work,' and they shall sup the sweeter
when they have deserved it.

"And if thou find any whom fortune or any false
folk have injured, try to know them and comfort
them with thy goods for Christ of Heaven's love.
Love them and give to them as God's law teacheth :
Alter alteritts onera portntc'^ And all men thou
canst espy who are needy and have nothing, help
them with thy goods, love them and blame them
not, let God take vengeance ; though they do evil,
let God be : Michi vindtcfa, et ego retribuam.^

98 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

And if thou wilt be pleasing to God, do as the
gospel teacheth, and make thyself beloved amongst
lowly men, and so thou shalt find favour. Facile
vohis amicos de mamona tntquttatis?^ '

" I would not grieve God," said Piers, " for all
the goods on earth ; might I do as thou sayest and
be sinless ? "

" Yea ; I promise thee," said Hunger, " or else
the Bible lieth. Go to Genesis the Giant, the begin-
ning of us all. ^In sudor e ^ and toil thou shalt earn
thy meat, and labour for thy livelihood,' and thus
our Lord bade. And Wisdom saith the same, I
saw it in the Bible, ^Piger pro frigore 3 would till
no field, and therefore he shall beg and pray and no
man shall abate his hunger.' Matthew with a
man's face ^ said these words, that servus nequam ^
had a talent, and because he would not trade with
it he had his master's ill-will for ever more. And
because he would not work his lord took the talent
from him, and gave it to him who had ten talents,
and then, so that Holy Church might hear it, he
said, ' He that hath shall have, and be helped when
he needeth, and he that hath not, shall have
naught, and no man shall help him ; and what he
even thinketh to have I will take it from him.'

' Make to you friends by the mammon of unrighteousness.

= In sweat.

3 The sluggard for the cold.

* An allusion to a common representation of the evangelists,
^hich likens Matthew to a man^ Mark to a Hotly Luke to a hullt
xmd John to an eagle, (SkeaL)
A. wicked servant.

r

PIEXS THE PLOWMAN.

" Mother-wit would that every man ^ould
either in ditching or digging or travailing in pra;
Christ would that men should work
templative life or active hfe. The Psalter saith
the psalm of beati omiies, the man that feedeth
himself by his faithful labour, he is blessed by the
Book in body and soul. Labores manttum /uartim,
&c."-

" Yet I pray you," said Piers, "/>ar charite' if
know any line J of leechcraft, teach it me, my 1<
For some of my servants, and myself also, work
for a whole week our belly acheth so."

" I wot well what sickness aileth you," said
Hunger, " ye have eaten over much and that
maketh you groan. But I bid thee, as thou
wish thy health, that thou never drink before thou
eatest somewhat. Eat not, I command thee, until
Hunger take thee and send his sauce to savour thy
lips, and keep some till supper time, and sit not too
long, but rise up before Appetite have eaten his fill.
Let not Sir Surfeit sit at thy board ; believe him
not, for he is lecherous and dainty of tongue and
his maw is ravenous for many meats.* And if thou

' The labours of thy hands. " For love. ' Lit., Uc^.

* In the C-lexl the following lines, amongst others, me
inserted hete : " Kemembei: Dives and Lazarus, and if tboa hast
the power. Piers, I counsel thee share thy bread, thy pottage, or
thy relish, with all who beg at thy gate for food for God's T ~
Give them some of thy loaf though ihou thyself chew the
And though tinrs and thieves and idlers may knock, let thi
bide till ihc board be retnoved, but bear no crambs to Ihem '
all thy needy neighbours have made their meal.''

]

con^^^^^

less. I

1

100 LANGLANiyS VISION OF

diet thee thus I dare lay mine ears that P
sell for food his furred hoods and his
Calabria ' with all the knobs of gold, am
by my faith, to leave his physic and learn
on the land, for livelihood is sweet,
leeches are murderers — Lord, amend the
make men die through their drinks ei
hath willed it.

" By Saint Paul, these are profitable w
Piers. " Go now, Hunger, when thou wilt
well — ^for this is a fine lesson, the Lord repa

" I vow to God," said Hunger, " hence
go till I have both dined and drunk to-da

" I have no penny," said Piers, " to b
nor geese, nor pigs, but I have two gree
a few curds and cream, and an oat-cak(
loaves of beans and bran baked for my
And yet I say, by my soul, I have no salt
no cook," forsooth, to make coUops, bi
parsley and leeks and many cabbages,3
cow and a calf and a cart-mare to draw
a-field while the drought lasteth, and b}
vision we must live till Lammastide ; anc
hope to have harvest in my croft, and tl
get thy dinner, as it pleaseth me well."

' A cloak trimmed with Calabrian fur.

' Or more strictly a kitchen-boy. The origi
kokeney — which has several meanings in Early E
rendering above seems the most probable here, th
meaning of the word — ** a little cock or cockerel '
be out of place.

3 Lit., cole-plant — any sort of cabbage.

PJMftS THE PLOWMAN.

, and
PP'e s, \

pleai^H

e, and^^^j

All the poor people then fetched peascods, and
brought in their laps beans and baked apples,
onions aad chervils and many ripe cherries, .
offered this present to Piers, wherewith to plea
Hunger.

Hunger ate it all in haste and asked for more, z
then the poor folk for fear fed Hunger quickly, with
green leeks and peas, and they thought to poison
him. By that, harvest time drew nigh and new
corn came to market. Then the folk were glad,
and fed Hunger with the best, with good ale as
Glutton taught, and made him go to sleep.

And then Waster would not work, but wander
about, and no beggar ate bread that had beans in it,
but only bread of coket or clerematyn ' or else of
pure wheat ; nor in any wise would he drink any
halfpenny ale, but the best and the brownest that
is sold in the town.

Labourers that have no land to live on but their
hands, deigned not to dine at morn on herbs a night
old. No penny ale can please them nor any piece
of bacon, but only fresh flesh or fish, fried or baked,
and that chand ox plus ckaitd'' against cold in their
maw. And except he be hired at a high price he
will complain and bemoan the time that he was
made a workman. He talketh against Cato's 3

' Fine kinils or white bread.

- Hotor hoUer,

'• Dionysius Oito ; ihe name commonly given to the aulbor of
a Latin work very popular in ibe Middle Ages, from whicU
Langlojid here quoles.

/

I03 LANGLANiyS VISION.

counsel, Pauper tatis onus pacienter ferre memento}
He complaineth against God and grumbleth against
Reason, and then he curseth the King and all his
council for making such laws to vex labourers. But
while Hunger was their master none of them would
complain, nor strive against his statute, so sternly
he looked upon them.

" But I warn you, workmen, earn while ye may ;
for Hunger hasteneth fast hitherward, and shaU
awake to chastise wasters widi water floods. Ere
five years be fulfilled such famine shall arise, and
fruits shall fail through floods and foul weather,'
and thus said Saturn 3 and sent to warn you. When
ye see the sun amiss and two monks' heads, and a
maid have the mastery and multiply by eight, then
shall the Death withdraw and Dearth be Justice,
and Daw the ditcher die for hunger, except God, in
his goodness, grant us a respite/' ^

' Remember to bear the burden of poverty patiently.

" The original foule wederes = lit. bad storms; but the
nautical term '*foul weather" is still in use with much the
same meaning.

3 The evil influence of the planet Saturn was often thought to
bring disaster.

* One of the mysterious prophecies then popular. The
Deaths the pestilence.

Truth saidi Fieri a bull of pardsH—A Priest disputes its
legality — The dUpftle aiuaiini tie Dreamer — A good life
is better than tnist in indulgenees at the Day of Doom.

Truth heard tell thereof and sent to Piers, and bade
him take his teem and till the earth, and provided
him a pardon, a pena et a cidpa,^ for him and his
heirs for evermore. And he bade him stay at home
and plough his fields ; and to all who helped him to
plough, to plant, or to sow, or did any other service
I that could help Piers, Truth granted pardon with
s Plowman.

Ings and knights who protect Holy Church, and
ithe people in their kingdoms righteously, have
Hon to pass full easily through Purgatory, and to
be companions with patriarchs and prophets in
Paradise. Holy bishops, if they be as they should
be, advocates of both the laws,' and therewith
preachers to the ignorant ; and in as much as they
can amend the- sinful, are peers with the apostles
(this pardon showeth Piers), and in the Day of Doom
shall sit at the high dais.

104 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

Merchants to the good had many years (remis-
sion of purgatory), but the Pope would grant none
of them a pena et a culpa^ because they keep not
their holy days as Holy Church teacheth, and swear
"By their soul," and "So God must help them,"
against good conscience, so that they may sell their
wares.

But Truth sent them a letter under his secret
seal that they should buy openly what best pleased
them, and afterwards sell it again and save the
profit, and repair therewith mesondteux ' and help
sick folk, and busily mend bad roads and build up
bridges that were all broken ; help maidens to
marry or else make them nuns ; find food for
prisoners and poor ; put scholars to school or to
some other craft ; and help religious Orders and
fix the rate of rent more fairly ; — " And I myself
will send St. Michael, my archangel, that no devil
shall injure you or make you afraid when you die.
And I will guard you from despair if ye will do
thus, and will send your souls safely to my saints
in jcjy."

Then were the merchants glad, and many wept
for joy and praised Piers the Plowman who provi4ed
this bull.

The men of law who had pleaded for Meed had
the least pardon, for the Psalter doth not save such
as take gifts, and especially from innocents who
know no evil ; Super vinocentem munera non

' /,e.i maisons dt diaty houses of God — ^hospitals.

PIEifS THE PLOWMAN. :o5

accipies. Pleaders should take trouble to plead
for such and help them, and princes and prelates
should pay them for their labour, A regibus et
pryndpibus erit iJierces eorum.' But many a justice
and juror would do more for John ' than pro det
pietate,^ believe thou naught else ! But he who
spendeth his speech and speaketh for the poor that
are innocent and needy and harm no man, and who
comforteth them in their ill-fortune without covet-
ing gifts, and for our Lord's love showeth the law
as he hath learned it, there shall no devil injure
him the least when he dieth, and he shall be safe
with his sou!, as the Psalter beareth witness,
Domine, gin's habitabit in tabernacuh tuo,* &c.
But a sin is it to buy water or wind or wit or fire
the fourth ; for these four the Father of Heaven
made in common for the earth, and these are
Truth's treasures to help honest folk ; they shall
never wax or wane without God Himself.

When they come to die who take from poor men
Meed for their pleading, and would have indulgence,
their pardon is full small at their going hence. Ye
legists and lawyers hold this true, and if I lie I
Matthew is to blame, for he bade me write this to
you, and told me this saying : Quodcumqiie vuUi's
ut faciant vobis homines, facite eis.^

' From kings and princes shall theii reward be.

- Probably same weU-known clieat of middle rank, used later
as the name of a cook. ^ For the mercy of God.

' Lord, who Ehall dwell in thy labernacte?

s Whatsoever ye would ihat meo should do to yon, do ye

io6 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

All labourers living who live by their hands, and
take wage honestly and honestly earn, and live in
love and under law, because of their humble hearts,
shall have the same absolution that was sent to
Piers.

Beggars nor bidders are not in the bull, except
the cause be honest which maketh them beg, for he
who beggeth or asketh, except he have nec^, he is
false like the devil and defraudeth the needy ; and
he also beguileth the giver against his will, who,
if he knew he were not needy, would give to
another more needy than he, and so would the
neediest be helped. Cato and the clerk of the
Stories * teach men thus ; Cut des^ videto * is Cato's
teaching, and in the Stories he teacheth how to give
thine alms : Stt elemosina tua in manu tua^ donee
studes cut des, ^ But Gregory was a good man, and
bade us give to all who ask, for His love who giveth
to us all : — Non ehgas cm miserearis^ ne forte
tretereas ilium quimeretur accipere. Quia incerium
est pro quo Deo magis placeas,^ For ye know
never who is worthy, but God knoweth who is
needy. In him who taketh lieth the treachery,
if there be any sin ; for he who giveth, payeth,

* Probably Peter Comestor, who wrote the ** Historia Scho-
lastica," and died about 1 198. (Skeat, )

* Consider to whom thou givest.

3 Let thine ahns be in thine hand until thou knowest to
whom thou givest.

* Thou shalt not choose on whom thou wilt have pity, lest
perchance thou pass by him who deserves to receive ; for it is
uncertain on behalf of whom thou mayest please God most.

L

PIERS THE PLOWMAN. 107

and prepareth him to rest ; and he who beggelh,
borroweCh, and bringeth himself into debt. For
beggars borrow evermore, and God Almighty is
their surety to repay, and with usury thereto, them
who give. Qttare nan dedisti pecctmiam meam ad
metisam, ui ego veniens cum usurt's exegissem illam ? '
Therefore, beg not, ye beggars, except ye have^
great need ; for whoso hath wherewith to buy him'
bread, the Book beareth witness that he hath enough
if he hath bread enough, though he have naught
else ; Sali's dives est, qui non indiget pane? Let
your solace be in reading saints' lives. The
Book forbiddeth beggary, and blameth it in this
manner : Junior fiii, etenim soitti ; et non vidi
iustum derelictum, nee semen ejus qiierens panem.^
For ye beggars live in no love nor keep no law ;
many of you wed not the women ye go with, but
bring forth children that men call bastards. Or in
youth they break their back or some bone, and
then for ever after go and beg falsely with their
children. There are more misshapen people among
these beggars than among all other kinds of men
who walk the earth. And he who liveth his life
thus, when he goeth hence may loath the time that
ever he was made man.

' Why didst Ihou not pul out my money at inlereit, so that
at my conUDg 1 might have required it with usury ?

' He is rich eaough who lacka not bread. !^ee p. 118 of
Appendix for a passage in C-text.

^ I have been young and now am old ; and I have not seen
Ihe jiut abandoned not his seed b^ing their bread.

JJ

io8 LANGLAND'S VISION OF

But old and hoary men, who are helpless, and
women with child who cannot work, the blind and
the bedridden, and those with broken limbs,* who
take their mischance meekly, such as lepers and
others, shall have as full a pardon as the Plow-
man himself, for love of their lowly hearts our
Lord hath granted them their penance and pur-
gatory here on earth.*

" Piers," then said a priest, ** I must read thy
pardon, for I will interpret each clause and tell it
thee in English."

And Piers unfoldeth the pardon at his request,
and I, behind them both, beheld all the bull. It
all lay in two lines, and not a leaf more, and was
written thus on Truth's witness : —

" Et qui bona egerunt^ ihunt in vitam eternam^
Qui vero mala^ in ignent eternumy 3

*' Peter !• I can find no pardon," then said the
priest, " except * Do well and have well, and God
shall have thy soul ; and do eyil and have evil, and
hope thou no other but that after thy death-day
the devil shall have thy soul ! ' "

' C. adds here the following : ** And all poor patient ones,
content with God's will, such as lepers, and poor folks fallen on
misfortune, such as prisoners, and pilgrims ; peradventure they
were robbed or slandered by evil men, and then lost their goods,
or have fallen into poverty through fire or flood."

' See Appendix, p. 132 for passage in C-text.

3 And those who have done go(^ shall go into life eternal,
and those who have done evil into everlasting firt.^

PlEJiS THE PLOWMAN. 109

And Piers, for pure vexation, tore it in twain,
and said, si ambttlauero, in medio umbre mortis, mm
timebo main; qtmniam tu mectim es.' "I shall
cease from my sowing," said Piers, "and labour
not so hard, nor be so busy any more about my
food. Hereafter my plough shall be of prayers and
penance, and I will weep when I should sleep,
though wheat-bread should fail me. The prophet
ate his bread in penance and sorrow, and by what
the Psalter saith, so did many others ; whoso loveth
God faithfully his livelihood is full easy. Fuerunt
micki lacrimi mee panes die ac node.' And, unless
Luke lie, he teacheth us by the fowls that we should
not be too busy about the world's bliss. JVe sol-
liciti sitis,^ he saith in the gospel ; and to guide us
showeth us examples. The fowls in the field, who
findeth them meat in winter ? They have no
gamer to go to, but God provideth for them all."

" What ! " said the priest to Perkin, " Peter ! me-
thinketh thou art learned somewhat, who taught
thee thy hook ? "

" Abstinence the Abbess taught me my A B C,''
said Piers, " and afterwards Conscience came and
told me much more."

" Wert thou a priest, Piers," said he, " thou
mightest preach where thou wouldst, as a divine
in divinity, with dixit insipiens,* for thy theme."

■ If I walk in the vallej' of the shadow of death, I will fear
00 evil ; for thou art with me.
' My tears shall be my bread day and niclil.
5 Be nol LroYililed. * The fool hath spoken.

no LANGLANEtS VISION OF

" Unlearned wretch/' said Piers, ^ little dost thoa
look on the BiUe, seldom dost thon behold Solo-
mon's saws, Eice derisores et iurgia cum ds^ tu
crescant^ &c.''

The priest and Perkin disputed one with Ae
other, and because of their words I awoke, and
looked about, and saw the sun shining in the
south; meatless and moneyless, on Malvern Hills,
and musing on this dream, I went my way.

Many a time this dream hath made me ponder
concerning what I saw asleep, whether it might be
so ; and also, full pensive of heart, concerning Piers
the Plowman, and what kind of pardon Piers Ind
to comfort all the people, and how the priest im-
pugned it through two special words. But I have
no pleasure in divination of dreams, for I see it often
fail.

Cato and canonists counsel us to cease to put
faith in divination of dreams, for sompma ne cures.^

But yet the book Bible beareth witness how
Daniel divined the dreams of a king, who was
called by clerks Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel said, " Sir
King, thy dreams betoken that strange knights shall
come to cleave thy kingdom ; among lower lords
than thou thy land shall be divided." And as Daniel
divined, so afterward it verily befell, and the king
lost his lordship and lower men had it.

* Cast forth scomers, and contentions with them, lest they
increase.

' Heed not dreams.

PIERS THE PLOWMAN. iir

And Joseph dreamed marvellously how the
moon and the sun and the eleven stars all made
to him obeisance. Then Jacob declared Joseph's
dream : '^Btait Jiltz"' said his father, "for want we
shall come ; and I, myself, and my sons, for need shall
seek thee." It befell as his father said, in the time
of Pharaoh, that Joseph was Justice and governed
Egypt, and his friends sought him there.

,And all this maketh me think upon my dream.
And how the priest found no pardon like Do-well,'
and thought that Do-well surpassed indulgences,
biennials and triennials, 3 and bishops' letters, and
how Do-well shall be worthily received at the day of
doom, and shall surpass all the pardon of St. Peter's
Church.

Now the Pope hath power to grant the people
pardon to pass into heaven without any penance.
This is our belief, as learned men teach us. Qiiod-
cumque ligautris super ttrram^ ertt ligatum et in
celts, &c.* And so I truly believe (Lord forbid
otherwise I) that pardon and penance and prayers
cause indeed souls to be saved which have sinned
deadly seven times. But to trust to these triennials,
methinketh truly, is not so safe for the soul, certes,
as is Do- well.

' I.e., doing well, living a gooil life, here personified.
) Arrangeraenls for saying mass for a deported soul during
periods of two or three years. {Skeal. )

' Whalsoerer ye shall bind on earth shall be bound also in

112 LANGLAND'S VISION.

Therefore, I counsel you, ye men who are rich
on this earth, and have triennials on trust of
your treasure, be ye never the bolder to break the
ten commandments ; and especially, ye masters,
mayors, and judges, who are held for wise men,
and have the wealth of this world and purchase
pardon and the Pope's bulls. At the dreadful
Doom, when the dead shall rise and all come before
Christ to yield account, how thou didst lead thy
life here and didst keep His laws, artd how thou
didst do, day by day, the Doom will declare. A
bagful of pardons there, or provincial letters, and
though ye be found in the fraternity of all the
four Orders, and have doublefold indulgences—
except Do-well help you I set your patents and
your pardons at the worth of a peashell ! There-
fore I counsel all Christians to cry God mercy, and
may Mary His mother be our mediator, that God
may give us grace, before we go hence, to do such
deeds while we are here, that after our death,
at the Day of Doom, Do-well may declare we did j
as he bade. ^

APPENDICES.

:e most important of the Longer Passages

ADDED BY LaNGLAND TO PlESS THE I'LOIfJfAIV

IN HIS Later Revision op the Poem (C. Text).

(See Pagi^ 35-)

" Though they give them dishonest measure they
hold it DO fraud ; and though they fill not full the
measure sealed by law ' they grasp for it as much as
for the true measure.

" Many sundry sorrows often hap in cities, both

(through fire and flood, and all because of dishonest
folk who beguile good men and vex them wrongly ;
and these cry on their knees for Christ to avenge
them, either here on earth, or in hell, upon those
who cheat them of their goods. And God sendeth
upon them fevers, or fouller evils, or fire in their
houses, or murrain, or other misfortune ; and it
befalleth many a time that Innocence is heard in
heaven among the saints, who pray both to our
Lord and our Lady to grant these deceivers grace
to amend on earth, and to have their penance on
earth and not in the torment of hell.

' This alludes to ihe seal in |
ihrit being true. (Skca/. )

1 16 APPENDICES.

**And then there falleth fire on fsdse men's
houses, and for their sins good men bum in the fire.
All this we have seen when sometimes, through a
brewer, many houses are burned and the dwellers in ,
them ; and because of a candle guttering in an evil
place, which fell down and straightway burnt up
all the row.

'' Therefore, methinketh that mayors who make
freemen ought to ask and find out, in spite of any
silver speech, what manner of trade or merchandise
such an one may use before he be made free and
fellow on your rolls. Forsooth, it is not seemly,
either in city or borough, that usurers or retailers,
for any kind of bribe, be franchised and made free
men and bear a false name."

[C. Passus iv. 11. 87-114.]

(^See Page 39.)

"But I saved myself and sixty thousand lives,
both here and elsewhere, in every land. But, if any
durst say it, thou thyself, truly, hast made dull the
heart of many bold men who had will to fight—
to burn, and break in pieces, and beat down strong-
holds.

" In the lands whither the King went Conscience
hindered him, so that he felled not his foes, though
Fortune willed it, and as his destiny was ordained
by our Lord^s will.

" Like a caitiff, thou, Conscience, didst counsel the

King to leave his heritage of France in his enemy's

hand. Unwise is tViat corksclence which sells a

APPENDICES. 117

kingdom that is conquered through the help of all ;
a kingdom or duchy verily may not be sold, for
so many folk who fought for it and followed the
King's will, ask their share of it. The least lad
who foUoweth him, if the land be won, looketh for
lordship or some other large Meed, whereby he may
live ever after as befitteth a man. And that is the
manner of a king who conquereth his enemies — to
provide well for all his host or else to grant his
men all that they can win, therewith to do what
they best would. Therefore I counsel no king
to ask any counsel of Conscience, if he desire
to conquer a realm ; for never should Conscience
be my constable, by Mary, were I a crowned king,"
said Meed, "nor be marshal of my men where I
must fight,"

[C. Passus iv. II. 234-358.]

{Set Page ^^?^

" There is no man living who loveth not Meed,
and is not glad to seize her, whether great lord or
poor man." . . .

Said Conscience to the King, ..." There is
Meed and Mercede ' and men deem both their due
for certain deeds, secret or otherwise. Oftentimes
men give Meed before the thing is done, and that
is neither reason nor right, nor law in any realm,
that a man should take Meed except he deserve
it ; nor to undertake to work for another while he

' Mercede = w^i;& due foi work actually done. (Sieal.) .

ii8 APPENDICES,

wotteth not verily whether he may live so long, nor
have good hap in his health to earn Meed.

^* I hold him over-bold, or else not honest, who is
paid pre manihus^ or else asketh it. Harlots and
^Ise leeches ask their wage ere they have earned
it. And deceivers give beforehand, and good men
at the end, when the deed is done and the day
ended, and that is no Meed, but Mercede, and a
kind of debt due for the doing."

[C. Passus iv. U. 283, &c.J

(See Page 56.)

'^But, Reason, be thou my chief Chancellor in
Exchequer and in Parliament, and Conscience be
King's Justice in all my Courts."

" I assent," said Reason, "if so be that thou th)rself
hear, audi alteram partem ^ among aldermen and i
commoners ; and so that unfitting Sufferance 3 seal J
not your private letters, nor send supersedeas^ except I
I assent. And I dare lay my life that Love will \
give the silver to pay the hire of thy servants, and
help to get what thou dost desire, more than all
thy merchants or thy mitred bishops, or Lombards
of Lucca, who live by lending like Jews."

The King then commanded Conscience to send
away all his officers and to receive those that Reason
loved ; and right with that I waked.

[C. Passus V. 11. 185-196.]

* Beforehand.

* Hear the other side.
3 /.tf., *' fraudulent connivance.**

AFPENDWBS.

(Sec Page 56.)
' Thus I awaked, God wot, when I
bill, Kit and I in a cottage ; clothe<
and little set by, in sooth, believe tm
of London and ignorant hermits, for
these men as Reason taught me. F
Conscience I met with Reason, in a I
when I had my health, and limbs to
loved to fare well and do nothinf
sleep ; thus in health of body 3
mind, one then questioned me ; i
remembrance, thus Reason rebuke
'■ Canst thou serve or sing in a
" Or cock hay for my harvest mei
cart, mow or stack it, or bind ii
be a master-reaper and arise fl
and be a hedge- warden,' and \
keep my corn in my croft |
thieves ? Or make shoes or ^
or kine, hedge or harrow, or d|
follow any other craft thtrtj
need to provide livelihood fdf
" Cerles," I said, " and sol
weak to work with sickle <a
belie\'e me, to stoop low to 1
any length of time." |

" Then hast thou lands %

** or rkfa kindred wlio find thy food ? For thou
seemest an idk man, a spender that must q>end, or
a waster of time, or beggest thoa about for thy
living at men's doors, or in churches upon Fridaysor
feast-days ? The which is a loller's life, little praised
fdiere righteousness giveth reward according as
men earn it, reddit mmcuifue iuxta opera sua^ Or
thou art injured, nutybe, in body or in limb, or
maimed through some mishap, whereby then
mayest be excused ? "

^^ When I was young," I said, '' many years ago,
my£[ither and my friends found wherewith to school
me, till I knew assuredly what Holy Writ meant,
and what is best for the body, and most safe for the
soul, as the Book telleth, if so be that I continue it.
And yet since my friends died I never found, for-
sooth, a life that pleased me except in these long
robes. If I must live by labour and earn a liveli-
hood, that labour that I learned best, thereby must
I live. In eadem vocaHone tn qua vocaii estis^
manete,^ And I live both in London and upon
London ; the tools with which I work and earn a
living are paternoster and my primer placebo and
dirtgey and sometimes my Psalter and my Seven
Psalms. Thus I sing for the souls of such as help
me, and those who find me my food, undertake, I
trow, to make me welcome when I come at times
in a month, now to him and now to her ; and in this

' He renders to every one according to his works.

^ In the same calling wherein thou hast been called, abide.

w

APPENDICES.

manner I beg without- bag or bottle, save my maw
only. And also moreover, methinketh, Sir Reason,
men should constrain no clerk to the work of
knaves, for by the law of Levitici that our Lord
ordained, clerks that are crowned' by conscience'
should neither labour nor sweat, nor swear at
inquests, nor fight in the van nor grieve their foes ;
Mon reddas malum pro maio.^ For all who are
crowned are heirs of heaven, and in the choir or in
churches are Christ's own ministers. It becometh
clerks to serve Christ, and uncrowned knaves to
drive the cart and to work. For no clerk should
be crowned except he come of franklins and free
men and of wedded folk. Bondmen and bastards
and beggars' children, to these it belongeth to
labour ; and to the Lord's kindred to serve both
God and good men, as their degree requireth ;
some to sing Masses, or sit and write, to advise and
to receive what Reason ought to spend. But
since bondmen's sons have been made bishops,
and bastards' offspring have been archdeacons, and
soap-dealers and their sons have been made knights
for silver ; and lords' sons their labourers, and their
revenues laid in pledge for the right of the realm to
ride against our enemies, for the Commons' comfort
and the King's honour ; and monks and nuns wly
should provide for beggars have made knights 9

' /.»., tonsured.

" Ijt. iyndt umlerstondyng—i.e., ihe inner voit
prompted the choice of the life of a clerk.

3 Kender nol evil for evil.

122 APPENDICES,

their kindred and purchased knight fees — ^popes
and patrons refuse poor gentle blood, and choose
Simon's son ^ to keep the sanctuary. Holy living
and love have been long hence, and will be till this
be worn out or otherwise changed.

" Therefore, rebuke me right naught. Reason, I
pray you, for in my conscience I know what Christ
would that I should do. The prayers of an upright
man and discreet penance is the best labour ta
please our Lord. Non de soloj^ I said, "forsooth,
vivtt hotnOy nee m pane et pahido ^ the paternoster
witnesseth \fiat voluntas iua^ findeth us all things.'^

Said Conscience, "By Christ I cannot see howr
this applieth, but it seemeth not uprightness to beg
in cities, except one be Obediencer* to priory or
minster.

" That is true," I said, " and so I confess, that I
have lost and misspent time ; and yet I hope, as he
that oft hath chaffered and aye hath lost and lost,
and at last it hath happened him that he made such
a bargain that he was ever after the richer, and at
the end set his loss at a leafs worth, such a winning
was it to him by the words of His grace ; Simile
est regntim celorum thesauro abscondito in agro^
^c, : Mulier que invenit dragmam unam^ &c. ; ^

' That is, the son of Simon Magus, or one who has been
guilty of Simony — whose wealth was his recommendation.
{Skeat,)

- Not alone by bread and meat man liveth.

3 Thy will be done. * A certain officer in a monastery.

5 The kingdom of heaven is like to a treasure hid in a field,

'. [See also concerning] The woman who found the drachma.

APPENDICES. 123

even so I hope to have from Him who is almighty
a share of His grace, and begin a time that will
turn all the times of my time to profit."

" I counsel thee, then," said Reason, " haste thee
to begin the life that is worthy and honest for the
soul."
. " Yea, and continue it," said Conscience ; and to
L^he church I went.

^^■ETo the church I went to honour God, and before
^^HS> cross on my knees I knocked my breast, sighing
BWw my sins, saying my paternoster, and weeping
and wailing, till I was asleep. ^m

[C. Passus vi. 11, 1-108O I

{See Page 59.)
Gregory the great clerk bade write in books
the rule for all religious Orders which were righteous
and obedient. Even as fishes in the flood, when water
faileth them die for drought when they lie dry, so
a religious Order rotteth and dieth that coveteth to
d(vell outside convent and cloister. For if heaven
be on this earth or any ease for the soul, it is in
cloister or school, I find, for many reasons. For in
cloister no man cometh to chide or fight, and in
school there is lowliness and love and Hking to
learn. But many a day men tell that both
monks and canons have ridden out in array and
kept their rule ill, and have been leaders of love-
days, and have purchased lands, and ridden about
on palfreys from mansion to manor, a pack of
hounds at his back as if he were a lord. And except

124 APPENDICES.

his knave kneel who holdeth his cup, he looketh
scowling and calleth him *^ lordein." ' Little had
lords to do to give lands away from their heirs to
religious Orders, who have no ruth, though it rain
on their altars. In mansions where these parsons
are at ease hy themselves no pity have they on the
poor ; that is their pure charity. Ye all hold
yourselves lords, your land lieth too wide. But yet
there shall come a king and confess you all, and
beat you for breaking your rule, as the Bible
telleth ; and put you to your penance ad prisUnum
statum tre,^ Barons and their offspring shall
blame and reprove you ; Hn in curribus et hz in
equis : ipsi ohligati sunt, et ceciderunL^ Friars in
their refectory shall find in that time bread without
begging, to live by ever afterwards, and Constan*
tine * shall be their cook and the restorer of their
churches. For the Abbot of England s and the
Abbess, his niece, shall have a knock on their crowns,
and incurable shall be the wound ; contriuit dond-

' Lazy villain I

= To return to the first condition.

3 Some (trust) in chariots and some in horses; they are
brought down and have fallen.

* It was a legend of the Middle Ages that Constantine
bestowed his territory in Italy upon the Pope. This passage .
*' seems to look forward to a time when the friars should be I
supported by some kind of regular endowment." '

5 Another reading for "England" is "Abingdon." At
Abingdon there was an old and well-known abbey. *• It was
the house into which the monks, strictly so call^, were first
introduced into England, and is, therefore, very properly intro-
duced as the representative of English monachism." (Skeat,)

^H APPENDICES.

tins hacuhim iiiipioritm, virgam dominancium plaga
in-sanahili.' But ere that king come, as Chronicles
have told me, clerks and Holy Church shall bta
clothed anetv." ■■

[C. Passus vi. 11. i47-l8o.jB

{See Page 60.)
"I, Pride,' patiently ask penance ; because foremost
and first I have been disobedient to father and
mother ; and disobedient and not abashed to offend
God and all good men, so high was my heart ; dis-
obedient to Holy Church and to them who serve
there. I judged some for their evil vices, and ex-
cited others through my word and my wit to show
their evil works ; and scorned them and others if I
found a reason, laughing all aloud so that unlearned
men should ween that I was cleverer and wiser than
another ; a mocker and unreasonable to them who
showed reason, in all kinds of ways, so that my
name should be known ; seeming to be sovereign
wheresoever it befel me to tell any tale, and I
trowed me wiser to speak or to counsel than any
clerk or layman. Proud of my apparel and my
bearing among the people, more than I have reason
for, within or without ; wishing that men should
ween I were, in what I was and had, rich, eloquent,

• The Lord hath broken (he slnfFof the wicked, the rod of the
(ulers, with an incurable sticke.

= This addition lo the B-text gives a second example of Pi
Pemel Ptoudheatl (in B, see p, 60) was a female c'
Here, Pride is a man.

126 APPENDICES.

and righteous of life ; boasting and bragging with
many bold oaths, vaunting in my vainglory in spite
of any rebuke ; and, again, so much above all others
in the people's sight that there was none such as
myself nor none so pope-holy.*

" Sometime with one following, sometime with
another ; in every covetous way I thus contrived
a hundred times how I could be esteemed holy. I
wished that men should think my deeds were the
best, and I the most learned in my craft among
clerks and others, and the strongest upon my steed,
and the sturdiest in body, and the handsomest to
look on, proud of my fair features and because I
sang clearly. And what I gave for God's love I
told to my friends, for them to think that I was
right holy and full of almsgiving, and none else so
bold a beggar to pray and to crave ; telling tales
in taverns and streets, of things that were never
thought, and yet I sware I saw them, and lied by
both my body and my life. Of deeds that I did well
I get witness, and say to "such as sit beside me —
^* Lo ! if ye believe me not, or ye ween I lie, ask of
him or of her, and they can tell you what I suffered
and saw, and at some time had, and what I knew
and could do, and what kin I came of."

[C. Passus vii. 11. 14-58.]

(See Page 62.)
All that he knew about Will he told it to

^ This is literal — holy as the Pope ; used here to mean hypo-
critical.

APPENDICES,

'atkin, and all that he knew of Watkin he toH
it after to Will, And he made foes of friends
through his false and faithiess tongue, " Or through
strong speech or many tricks I avenged me oft or
fretted ' myself within like a tailor's shears, and
cursed my fellow Christians. . , . When I may
not have the mastery I take such melancholy that
I catch the cramp, and sometimes spasms of the
heart, or the ague, in such a fit of anger ; and some-
times a fever that seizeth me for a whole twelve-
month, until I despise our Lord's leechcraft and
trust in a witch and say that neither clerk nor Christ
is skilled like the cobbler of Southwark, such grace
is his. For God nor God's words, nor grace, never
availed, but through a charm I have had good hap
my greatest healing.

[C. Passus vii. II. 70-85.

(Sec Page 60.)
With false words and tricks I have got my g<
and with guile and deceit gathered what I havi
mixed up my wares and made a good show, while
the worst lay beneath, and I held it a fine trick.
And if my neighbour had a hind, or any beast else,
more profitable than mine, I contrived many plans,
and cast about with all my wit how I might get it ;
and except I got it by any other way, at last I stole
it or privily shook his purse and unpicked his locks.

' I lake here ihe reading "frcle." " Envy frelted
itcin>lly,

1

)ods I

•ii 1

against

each olher when used.

128 APPENDICES,

And if I went to the plough I pinched a bit from his
half-acre, so that I would steal away a foot of land
or a furrow from my next neighbour's ground.
And if I reaped I would over-reach, or gave counsd
to them who reaped to seize for me with their
sickle what I never had sowed, . . . and if I sent
my servant over sea to Bruges, or my prentice
into Prussia to look after my profit, to trade with
money and make exchange, never could any man
comfort me in the meantime, neither could Matins
nor Mass, nor any other kind of show ; and I never
performed penance nor said paternoster that my
mind was not more with my goods than with God's
grace and His great might.

[C. Passus vii. 11. 259-285.]

(See Page 107.)

The most needy are our neighbours if we take
good heed, such as prisoners in dungeons or poor
folk in cottages, burdened with children and the
landlord's rent. What they save by their spinning
they spend it in house-hire, also in milk and meal
to make porridge with, to fill their children who
cry for food. And they themselves suffer much
hunger, and woe in winter-time when they wake at
nights to rise to rock the cradle, and also when they
card and comb, and patch and wash and rub, and
reel, and peel rushes, so that ruth is it to read
or show in rime the woe of those women who dwell
in cottages, as well as of many other men who sufier

APPENDICES.

'much woe, in huager and thirst, that they may
(turn the fair side outward ; and are abashed to beg,
and would not tell lo their neighbours what they
need at noon and eve.

" Verily I know also, as the world teacheth, what
be&IIeth another who hath many children, and hath
no wealth but his craft to clothe and feed them with,
and many to grasp thereat, and who taketh few
pence. Their bread and penny ale are taken instead
of pittance,' and cold flesh and cold fish instead of
baked venison. On Fridays and fasting days a
-farthing' 3- worth of mussels, or as many cockles,
were a feast for such folk. It were alms to help
those that have such burdens and to comfort such
cotters, and crooked men and blind.

" But beggars with bags whose churches are brew-
houses, except they be blind or deformed or else
sick, though they fall down for want that thus beg
falsely for a living, reck them not, ye rich, though
such rascals starve. For all that have their health
and their eyesight, and limbs to labour with, and
yet follow lollers' life, live against God's law and
the teaching of Holy Church.

" And yet there are other beggars in health, it
seemeth, both men and women, but they want
their wit. And these are lunatic lollers and wan-
derers, mad, more or less, according as the moon
sitteth. They care for no cold, nor take count of heat,

' KpUtana at VaaX. tiinc meant " an extraordinary oilowi
of victuals given to monastics in addition to their usual a
iBons." ( Tyraikitt, quoted by Skeat.)

1^0 APPENDICES.

and wander with the moon, and go m
witless, with a good will, in many cour
wide ; just as Peter and Paul did, exce
preach not nor do miracles. But m;
befalleth them to prophecy concerning
as it were in mirth. And in our sigh
since God has the might to give ea<
wealth, and health, and yet suffereth
thus (it seemeth to my thinking), that
are as His apostles, or His privy disc
hath sent them forth silverless, and i
garment, without hread and bag as the
Quando mm vos sini pane et per a ; '
breadless they beg of no man. i
one may meet with the mayor in t
reverenceth him right naught more tl
Neminem salutauerttis per viam,^ S
of men Matthew teacheth us we sh
nouse and help them when they come
vagosque indue in domum ttiam,^ F
merry-mouthed men and minstrels of
are God's servants, jesters, as the Boc
quis videtur sapiens^ fiet siultus ut sit sc
know full well that it belongeth to the r
all minstrels kindly, for the love of lor-
that they live with. Men suffer all tl

* When I sent you without bread and scrip.

* Ye shall salute no man by the way.

3 And the needy and wandering bring into thi

* If any seemeth wise, let him become a fool
wise.

APPENDICES.

and take it for merriment, and do still more for
Buch men, before they go, and give them gifts and
gold for great lords' sakes. Right so, ye rich, ye
should forsooth rather welcome and honour and
help with your wealth God's minstrels and His
messengers and His merry jesters, the which ar|
lunatic lollers and wanderers, for under God's seci
seal their sins are covered.

For they bear no bags nor bottles under thell
cloaks ; which belongeth to the life of lollers and of
ignorant hermits who seem full humble to gain
men's alms, in hope to sit at even by the hot coals,
to spread abroad their legs or lie at their ease, to
rest and roast and turn their back, to drink deep
and dry and then betake themselves to bed and
arise when it pleaseth them. When they are risen
they roam about and spy right well where they may
soonest have a meal or a round of bacon, silver or
sodden meat, and sometimes both ; a loaf or half a
loaf or a lump of cheese, and carry it home to their
cottage, and cast about how to live in idleness and
ease and by others' travail.

And whatsoever man wandereth thus with a bag
at his back in beggar's guise, and knoweth some
kind of craft, in case he wished to use it, through
which craft he could come at bread and ale, and,
moreover, to a garment to cover his bones and
liveth like a loller — God's law damneth him. "Lol-
lers living in sloth and roamers over the land are not
in this bull," said Piers, " until they amend them."
[C. Passus X. II. 71-160,]

His

tk

132 APPENDICES.

{See Page io8.)

But hermits that live by the highways, and in
to^vns among brewers, and b^ in churches ;— aH
that the holy hermits hated and despised, such as
riches, reverences, and rich men's alms, these lollers,
thieves, and worthless hermits covet the contrary,
and live as cotters. For they are but as servants aAd
drunkards at the alehouse, neither of good lineage,
nor learning, nor holy of life, as hermits who of old
dwelt in woods with bears and lions. Some of
these had livelihood from their kindred and from no
man else, and some lived by their learning and the
labour of their hands ; some had strangers for i
friends who sent them food, and to some birds
brought bread whereby they lived. All these holy
hermits were of noble kin, they forsook land and
lordship and the pleasures of the body.

But these hermits who build their dwelling by
the highway, of yore were workmen, weavers and
tailors and carters' knaves and graceless clerks
They kept full hungry house and had much want,
long labour and little earning, and at last espied
that liars in friars' clothing had fat cheeks. There-
fore these unlearned knaves left their labour and
clothed themselves in cloaks like clerks, or as if
they were of some Order, or else prophets . . .
Now, by Christ, rightly are such called " lollers,'*
after the English of our elders, as old men teach. He
that loUeth is lame, or his leg out of joint, or maimed
in some linib, for it pointeth to some mishap.

APPENDICES.

And even thus, truly, such manner of hermitft
" loll " agaiDst the faith and law of Holy Church,
For Holy Church biddeth all manner of people
be under obedience and submission to the law.
First, the Religious Orders, to keep their rule and
be under obedience day and night ; unlearned men
to labour ; and lords to hunt in woods and forests
for foxes and other beasts which are in the wild
woods and waste places, such as wolves that worry
men, women, and children. And all to cease on
Sundays that they may hear God's service, both
Matios and Mass ; and after meat ought every
to hear Evensong in churches.

Thus it behoveth to lord and clerk and layi
to hear the service wholly each holy-day,
furthermore to keep vigils and fasting days,
to fulfil those fastings, except infirmity should cause
otherwise — poverty or other penances, such as
pilgrimages and needful labour. Under this obe-
dience are we each one ; whoso breakech this, be
well aware that except he repent, amend, and ask
mercy, and humbly shrive himself, I fear me, if he
die, it shall be counted for deadly sin before Christ,
except Conscience excuse him.

See now whether these loUers and ignorant
hermits who are so far from church, transgress this
obedience? Where see we them on Sundays
hearing the service, such as Matins in the morning ?
Till Mass begin, or till Sundays at Evensong we ;
right few ! Or do they labour for their living

1

:h. ^H

nd 1

both j

man ^^^|

, and ^^1

134 APPENDICES.

the law would ? But rather at midday meal-tiine oft
I meet with him going in a cloak as if he were a
clerk ; a bachelor or a holy father best beseemeth
him ! And for the cloth that covereth him he is
called a friar, and washeth and wipeth and ^tteth
with the first. But while he laboured in the wcnrld,
and earned his meat with honesty, he sat at the
side bench and second table, and no wine came
into his belly through the week long, nor blanket
in his bed nor white bread before him.

The cause of all this villainy cometh from
many bishops who suffer such sots and other sins
to rule. Certes, if one durst say it, Symon quasi
dormit; vigUare » were better, for thou hast a great
charge. For many watchful wolves have broken
into folds ; the barkers ' are all blind who lead forth
thy lambs, dispergentur oues^ thy dog dare not j
bark. The tar 4 is ill-made that belongeth to thy
sheep, their salve is of supersedeas in summoners'
boxes ; 5 nigh all thy sheep are scabbed, the wolf
is surfeited with wool : —

" Sub moUtpasiore lupus lanam cacatj etgrex
In-custoditus dilaceratur eoP ^

I

* Simon sleeps as it were ; to watch.

° /.^., dogs. I

3 The sheep shall be scattered. ;

4 Every shepherd used to carry a tar-box which held salve for
anointing the sores of sheep.

5 AH the healing salve that the sheep get is that they are
smothered with writs of supersedecu,

^ Under a soft [yieldinpj shepherd the wolf casteth forth wooli
and the unguarded ftock is therefore torn in pieces.

(

Specimens of the Original Text from the
B Version (about 1377).'

I . The opening lines of the Prologue (see p. i).

In a somer seson * whan soft vras the sonne,

I shope me in shroudes * as I a shepe were.

In habite as an heremite * unholy of workes.

Went wyde in ]>is world • wondres to here.

Ac on a May mom3nage * on Malueme bidle^

Me byfel a ferly * of £ury, me thoa3te ;

I was wery forwandred * and went me to reste

Under a brode banke * bi a bornes side, •

And as I lay and lened ' and loked in J>e wateres,

I slombred in a slepyng • it sweyved so merye.

[ProL 11. i-io.]

2 . The rats and mice take counsel together to bell

the cat (see p. 8).

Wi)> ])at ran )>ere a route * of ratones at ones,

And smale mys myd hem * mo ]>en a |)ousande,

And comen to a conseille * for here comune profit ;

For a cat of a courte • cam whan h3rm lyked,

And ouerlepe hem ly3tlich * and lau3te hem at his wille,

And pleyde wi)> hem perilouslych * and possed hem aboute.

* For doute of djmerse dredes • we dar nou5te wel loke ;

And 3if we grucche of his gamen • he will greue vs alle,

Cracche vs, or clowe vs * and in his cloches holde,

* Edited by Prof. Skeat, Clar, Press, 1891.

^esfulbrijte-abomenl
And some colers of crafty werk
Hope in wareine & in waste ' wtl
And olheiwhite |iei aien elles-w
Were ^ere a belle on here beis ■
Men my^e wile where )iei went

And njl 50,' quod Jat talou/i
To bug^ a tielle of brasse ■ ot o
And Imltten on a coleiri ' foi owi
And hangcn it vp-on Jie cattes bi
Where he ritt ot rest ■ or rennet)
And jif him list for to loihe ' l>ci
And percn in his presence ■ pet-
And 5ir him wraCtheth, he ywar

Alle )ris rnute of rslones ' to b
Ac |x> |>e belle was yboujt ■ and
!>^ ne was ratoun in alle ])

Fraunce
(>at dorst haue ybounden )« ball
Ne hangeD it aboute |ie cattea hi
And heklen hem vnhardy ' and 1
And leten here laboure lost ' & a

3. Tie descripUon 1
I loked on my left half ' as |
And was war of a womman
Purfiled with pelure ' |ie 6ni
Y-croiinede with a corone ■
Felialich hir fyngres ■ were I
^, And )>ereoD red nibyes ' ac I

138 APPENDICES^

I had wondre what she was * and whas wyi she were*
* What is ]fl% wo^^man,' quod I ; 'so worthily atired? '
'That is Mede )« Mayde,' oKod she, * ' hath noyed me
fill oft.'

[Fassos iL 11. 7-2a]

4. From the confession of Avarice (see p. 67).

' Repentedestow )« euere,* qKod repentance, * ' ne lestitu-

douif madest ? *
' 5us, ones I was herberwed,' quod he, * ' with an hep of

chapmen,
I roos whan J>ei were arest * and yrifled hsxe males.'
'That was no restitudoun,' quod repentance, * 'but a

robberes thefte,
t>ow haddest be better worthy * be hanged J)erfore
}>an for al ])at * ]»it ]x)w hast here shewed.' j

* I wende ryflynge were restitudoun,' quod he, * ' for I lemed '

neuere rede on boke,
And I can no frenche in feith * but of )« ferthest ende ot

norfolke.'

[Passus V. lU 232-239.]

5. The Penitents' search for St. Truth (see p. 82).

A thousand of men ))o * thrungen togyderes ;
Criede vpward to cryst * and to his clene moder,
To haue grace to go with hem * treuthe to seke.

Ac })ere was wyjte non so wys • ]« wey |>ider couthe.
But blustreden forth as bestes ' ouer bankes and hilles.
Til late was and longe * ]»it )>ei a lede mette,
Apparailled as a paynym ' in pylgrjrmes wyse.

' Knowestow ou3te a corseint * ))at men calle treuthe ?
, Coudestowau3te wissen vs })e weye ' where that wy dwelleth?'
' Nay, so me god helpe ! ' * seide ))e gome Jxinne,
* I seygh neuere palmere • with pike ne with scrippe»
Axen after hym er • til now in ))is place.'
' Peter ! ' quod a plowman * and put forth his bed,
J knowe hym as kyndely * as clerke do]> his bokes ;

■ APPENDICES.

Conscience and kynde witte ' kenned me to his place.

And deden me surcn hym sikerly ' to serue hym for cuere^ I

Bothe to sowe and to sette ' |ie while I swyoke myghte.

1 hane ben his folwar ' al ]]is fifty wynure ;

Bothe ysowen his sede ■ and sued his besles,

Wilh-Inne and wilhouten ' wayted his profyt.

I dyke and I delue ' 1 do )iat tteuihe hoteth ;

Some tyme 1 sowe ' and some tyme 1 thresche,

In toilouies crofte and lynkues crafte ■ what treutbe C

I weuc an 1 wynde ' and do what treuthe hoteth.

For JiDUje I seye it myself ' I serue hym to paye ;
I haue myn huire of hym wel ■ and otherwhiles mon
He is Jie preslest payer ' \b.\. pore men knowetb ;
Henewith-haltnonhewciiis hyre ' |i<it he ne bath it a
He is as low as a lombe ' and loueliche of speche.
And jif 56 wilneth to wite ■ where |«.t he dweUeth,

ie sow witlerly ■ [« weye to his pli
[Passus V. II.

517-523 and 539-562.1

6. Piers woula dismiss Hunger, who rejuses t

go, and has to be fed (see p. 100).

' By seynt I'oule,' qrwd Pieres ' ' (lise areti proliiable wordij
Wende now, hunger, whan [kiw wolt ' J«t wel be [raw euef
For Ins is a louely lessoun ' lorde it |)e for3clde I '
* Byhote god,' qued burner, - ' hennes ne wil I wende.
Til I haue 6yned bi [lis day * and ydronke bolbe."

'I haue no peny,' qnad peres, ' 'poleles forlo bigge,
Ne neyther eees ne giys ' but two grene cheses,
A few cnidtfcs and creem ■ and an hnuer cake.
And two loues of benes and bmn ■ ybake for my fiiuntis.
And jeC I sey, by my soule - 1 haue no salt bacoun,
Ne no kokeney, bi ciyst ' coloppes for to mahen.
Ac I haue ptn:il and poreltes ' and many kole-planles,
And eke a cow and a kalf- and a cart-mare
To drawe a-felde my donge ■ Jie while pe drought blsltlb.
And bi ]As lytlode we mot lyue ' til tammasse tyme ;
And bi |ial, I hope to haue ' heruest in my croft ;
And ^nnemay I diste |ti dyner 'asmedere likelh.*
Alle pe pore peple l>o ' pesecoddes fetten,
Beties tknd bakcn apples ■ |iei brou jte in her bppes.

140 APPENDICES. .

Chibolles and cheruelles * and ripe chines manye.
And pfvfred peres }fi& pritsent * to plese with hunger.

Al hui^er eet in hast * and axed after more.
I>anne pore folke fro fere * fedde hunger 3eme
With grene poret and pesen * to poysouif hunger jiei |x)tt5te.
By \aX it neighed nere heruest * newe come cam to diepjrnge;
l>anne was folke friyne * and fedde hunger with )« best.
With good ale, as glotouif tau3te * and gerte hunger go slepe.

[Passus vi. U. 277-303.]

aofCTW*!

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